Kodomotachi
by ArgentumVulpes
Summary: Naruto has finally adapted to his new appearance. However, this doesn't mean his life becomes all boring; he gets his own genin team, and Sasuke is confronted with his wish to restore his clan. Yaoi. SasuNaru. Sequel of Byouki (summary inside)
1. Chapter 1: Kids

**Part II: Kodomotachi**

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sensei.

This story is a sequel to Byouki. If you haven't read it, I would advise you to do so. If you don't want to or don't remember, here is a _short_ summary:

Summary Byouki: When on a mission things go a bit wrong, Tsunade finds out that the Kyuubi is changing Naruto and the seal to break free and take him over. Naruto grows a tail as a result. Finally he is slowly getting used to this new appendage and having Sasuke around all the time, when the seal starts to take over Naruto's body. Sasuke has to help him get through this as he doesn't want to lose his boyfriend. Fortunately, Tsunade, Sakura and Kakashi find a way to re-seal the fox for good. As a result Naruto ends up with a pair of fox ears on his head and Sasuke's growing lust for him.

About Kodomotachi: Two years later Naruto has finally adapted to his new appearance, like almost everyone else. However this doesn't mean his life becomes all boring. Far from it; he gets his own genin team and Sasuke is confronted with his wish to restore his clan. Yaoi. SasuNaru

-x- _Small time skip_

-horizontal ruler- _Large time skip/ next day_

-=-=-=-=-=- _Change of person POV_

And now on with the sequel...

-oXo-

**Chapter 1: Kids**

_2__nd__ of April_

Team 7, long since dubbed team Kakashi, was currently seated in a restaurant. They had something to celebrate. Today everybody in their team was _officially_ a jounin. Of course Naruto and Sasuke had been above jounin level for a long time even when they were still genin, but today Sasuke had finally been promoted as well at the age of 21. Due to his runaway and comeback he hadn't been allowed to become one sooner. So actually it wasn't really a big deal for them.

Sasuke was sitting to Naruto's left at the square table. Sasuke stood about 15 centimetres above Naruto nowadays. Naruto hadn't grown much since his 'seal ordeal' two years ago. Sasuke instead had grown a good 9 cm, standing now at 186.7 cm, whereas Naruto was 'stuck' at 170.9 cm.

Sakura, sitting on Naruto's right, was almost as tall as Naruto, being 169.3 cm; something Naruto wasn't always happy about.

"I heard you'll get a genin team in a couple of days." Kakashi directed his line to Naruto from opposite the small table. Naruto's fox ears perked up and a hand glided up to the back of his head, while the other held his drink.

"Yeah, Tsunade no baa-chan thought it was time for me to have one." He grinned.

"That's great, Naruto, I will make sure you will get one of my medic students on your team." Sakura had no genin team instead she had a small class of genins that wanted to become medic ninja's.

"You're not allowed to have a team yet?" Sakura asked Sasuke.

"No and I don't mind very much either."

"Come on Sasuke, teaching kids ain't so bad," Naruto said as he bent towards Sasuke, sweeping his tail playfully.

"Sure it isn't," Sasuke said, sarcasm lining his voice.

"Sasuke-kun, don't say such things. I know you guys can't have kids of your own. Nevertheless, would you say that when you would have been with a woman, that you wouldn't have wanted kids?" Sakura looked Sasuke in the eye.

"Having kids and having a team is different."

"So you would want to have kids but no team?" Sasuke was silent. "Theoretically speaking," Sakura added.

Naruto looked from the one to the other not knowing what to say about this theoretical hypothesis. Since they couldn't have kids and Sasuke wasn't allowed to have a genin team. Kakashi seemingly was sort of in the same state. So they decided to just watch where this was going.

"_If_ that were possible, theoretically speaking," Sasuke began, "then yes I would rather have kids of my own, knowing my clan can proceed, than have a genin team." An awkward silence fell.

"Oh," was all that Sakura said and rather strangely she didn't continue.

Slowly they began eating again.

After a while Naruto just couldn't stand the silence anymore. "So, how are things with Anko?"

"Eh?" Kakashi said, looking a bit panicked. Sakura gave Naruto a stare and he shrugged back in apology. Sakura sighed.

"Come on Kakashi-sensei, you think we hadn't noticed yet?"

"To be honest I had hoped not."

"It _is_ Anko, you know," Naruto stated.

"Yes, I had noticed that."

"Good," Sasuke said, thinking this conversation would finish with that. Kakashi probably had the same thoughts as he bowed back to his food wondering how they had found out.

Sakura and Naruto exchanged looks and decided to drop it. This probably wasn't the time.

-x-

Later on when Naruto and Sasuke were walking side by side to their home, Naruto again thought it was too silent. It wasn't like he couldn't handle silence, he lived with Sasuke after all, but that didn't meant he always accepted it.

"You ever thought of having children?" he almost whispered, sounding a bit afraid as if Sasuke might hit him for asking something like that.

Sasuke just continued walking as if he hadn't heard. Naruto was just wondering if perhaps he really hadn't heard when suddenly the raven began to speak.

"Yeah I have, about reviving the Uchiha clan." He glanced to Naruto sideways. "You?"

"Sure, why not. I think everybody has thought about it at least once in their lives." Silence fell once more.

"Have you come to terms with it then?" Naruto just couldn't keep the question to himself. He had never really thought about this since he dated Sasuke, but now he just could not _not_ _think_ about it since the moment Sakura had brought it up.

"Sure, I haven't chosen for you for nothing. I really love you and if it means no children, than we have none." Naruto glanced to Sasuke as his head was still turned to look at the ground. He knew Sasuke had said, since the first day they had formed a team, that he wanted to revive his clan. Back then Naruto had not really thought it could have meant that he wanted to do so by having children, but had meant to bring his clan back to the top or something. This children topic probably was more important to Sasuke than he let on.

"I always thought about having a family one day," Naruto said quietly, talking to the sky. Sasuke suddenly looked at him a bit surprised. "I thought perhaps then I would really understand what a family would be." He looked to Sasuke. "But I think I already have enough with you." He leant against Sasuke, grinning as his tail curled around Sasuke's leg.

They reached their house. About a year and a half ago they had decided that it was useless to have two apartments and always sleeping both at one place. Together they had bought a small house. It had a living room a kitchen with dining room on the first floor and two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a washroom on the second floor.

Pulling out their sandals and walking up the stairs they went directly to bed. Even in bed they still didn't speak to each other. Naruto was almost asleep when Sasuke made him come back to the world of the living.

"Wouldn't you want a family to continue your family tree?"

"Huh?" Naruto turned around to Sasuke. "Are you still thinking about that?"

Sasuke gave him a stare which meant he did.

"I think I would have, but we can't so I have peace with it." Naruto took a breath. "But you apparently haven't."

"I'm not sure. I think it does bother me, though I thought it didn't."

Naruto reached to Sasuke's face and put his hand around it. "I don't know if it still does, but otherwise we might find a way to give you what you want."

Sasuke blinked. "What?" Had he really just said that?

Naruto retracted his hand and turned to lie on his back. "Well, you know, find someone who can help you with that."

"What? No, I don't want that. I'm not going to bed with someone else just for that!"

"Okay," Naruto said to the ceiling.

"Okay? That's all?" Sasuke turned to face the ceiling as well, thinking. How could Naruto just have proposed that to him? And then so easily dismiss it? He heard Naruto yawn.

"Sorry I brought it up. Night, Sasuke."

"Oyasumi."

Not long thereafter Sasuke heard Naruto's breath even out as he had fallen asleep. He just couldn't keep this out of his mind. He had to make the decision permanently. To do that he needed to know what kept him from doing that. Why did he still think of reviving his clan?

He turned his head to look out of the window. They never bothered to close the curtains from this window when they needed to get out early the next morning. He saw the almost full moon coming from behind a cloud. The moonlight hit his own and Naruto's face. He studied Naruto. His almost black fox ears were sticking out of the slightly too long bright yellow hair; the somewhat red tufts inside the ears looking very soft. He definitely loved Naruto.

Suddenly it hit him. Yes, he would have liked to have kids, not only to revive his clan but like Naruto had said, to have a nice family of his own; just like he'd once had (except without the bloodshed).

But he already had that; with Naruto. Naruto was his family, already for a long time. Hadn't he said he saw Sasuke as a brother at the Valley of the End? Now it had grown into much more.

Sasuke smiled. He closed his eyes as he hugged Naruto. It was enough to form a family with just two people, right? Naruto was enough for him. He still had that weird feeling in his stomach, but he could put it aside more easily now. He didn't want to think about it anymore and not soon thereafter, he followed Naruto into dreamland.

* * *

><p>"I'm so excited," Naruto said as he headed to the front door, his tail swirling. Sasuke patted him on his shoulder.<p>

"Just don't scare them too much with your excitement. They might see you as a Guy-sensei."

Naruto stopped in his tracks. "Ew, I don't want that." He turned toward Sasuke and began grinning after a moment. "At least _my_ eternal rival became my eternal lover, so…" His voice died down and his tail stopped moving as Sasuke just stared back at him. "That sounded a bit…"

"Yeah," Sasuke agreed.

"Especially so early in the morning."

Sasuke nodded.

"Sorry I said that. Well then…"

"See you tomorrow," Sasuke said as he began walking in the other direction.

Naruto waved. "Bye."

Sasuke had to go on a mission alone and Naruto headed to the Hokage tower to hear which kids were in his team. Entering the room in which they would meet, he saw a few other jounin standing there; none he really knew. He waved to them anyway and sat on a table, waiting for Tsunade to enter. It seemed like he was the youngest of all the jounin in the room.

Instead of Tsunade, Shizune entered the room with a notebook. "Hello, I will read out the new genin teams. It's up to you to see if they are fit to be genin and become real ninja's." She held up the book. "There aren't many genins that graduated this time, so there aren't a lot of teams." She began reading the groups of numbers 1,2 and 5. When she came to number 9 she looked up to Naruto before reading the names.

"Team 9 for Uzumaki Naruto. Members of the team are Buki Eri, Umu Ryomaru and Yamanaka Kenji." She looked up at him again and gave a small smile before continuing to read the last team, team 12.

When she was finished, Tsunade came into the room to wish the jounin luck and dismissed them.

As Naruto walked out toward the academy like the rest to pick up their students, Naruto put his hands in his pocket. He felt the bells Kakashi had given him the day before.

His sensei had come by to collect a report and then asked Naruto if he would give his students the bell test. Just like he had given them, Minato had given him, Jiraiya had done so before, who had it from the Sandaime and who knows if he'd gotten it from the Nidaime.

Naruto had said a very loud and proud 'Yes!' and Kakashi had then given him the very bells he had used in their test. Naruto had hugged Kakashi on the spot and ran into the house to tell Sasuke, leaving a stunned Kakashi at the door.

Fiddling with the bells in his pockets he decided to not dwell to long in memory lane as flashbacks of his own test came back to him.

Yamanaka Kenji. He had heard Ino talk about him once, but could not remember why. He wasn't direct family of her, something like a cousin of her mother's sister's husband (or something like that), but did live nearby.

Buki Eri, he couldn't say he had ever heard of such a clan or family name at all.

And last Umu Ryomaru. He had heard of that family name years ago when he was still at the academy himself. Apparently they had fled from a small country and then made themselves famous for their poison making, as Sakura had mentioned once or twice.

Naruto neared the school and walked to the right classroom. To be honest he was a bit nervous. Not so much of how the kids would be like, but more for their reactions of what they would say about him.

It had been over two years since he had gotten the fox tail and ears. Slowly he had made himself come to public with it and it had not even been for a year now that he was finally able to walk around as himself, without feeling uncomfortable. Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi had helped him with that.

But children were a whole different story than villagers. They just said what came to mind without really thinking over the consequences of what that might do to the other.

Naruto stood in front of the door, his hand on the handle; he could hear Iruka telling the groups their senseis would be there in a minute and just to stay calm. Hearing Iruka's voice made him calm down and he opened the door.

Iruka looked at him and a smile appeared on his face. "Naruto, glad you didn't pull a Kakashi and decided to come too late."

Naruto grinned at that. "Didn't want to make a wrong impression, besides, Kakashi-sensei is just a lazy-ass when it comes to arriving on time."

Iruka smiled at that and Naruto turned to the class. "Team 9 I came to pick you up. Please follow me outside so we can properly introduce."

The three stood up and walked to the door, looking a bit suspicious towards Naruto, who just smiled back.

The first one to walk up to him was a boy with light orange hair tied up in a low ponytail, he had soft yellow eyes and wore black with yellow clothing. Next was the girl, who had long brown hair tied into two low braided pigtails, had dark green eyes and had clothing with the colours purple and navy blue. The last boy came walking forward silently and had short green hair and black eyes. His clothing existed only out of the colours red and green.

"Bye, Iruka-sensei, see you tonight," the blond said as he opened the door for his students.

Naruto led the kids to a nice park not far away and sat down on a small wall, his soon to be students following suit by sitting in the grass in front of him.

"Alright, to get to know each other I would like you to introduce yourselves. I will begin to give the example."

Before he continued he looked at each of them as two of them nodded: the girl and the green haired boy. The yellow eyed boy just stared arrogantly at him.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I'm 21 years old. I like eating ramen and carrots, my dream is to become Hokage and protect everyone in this village. There are some things I don't like, but I'm not going to list them up right now." He smiled and the green haired boy smiled back hesitantly. "Alright, we can go from right to left or youngest to oldest or-"

"Then it's my turn, I'm the youngest," the girl said. "My name is Buki Eri, I'm 12 years; unlike the rest as they are already 13. I live alone with my kaa-san, she's a ninja as well. My hobby is sewing."

"That might come in handy," Naruto said thoughtful.

Eri giggled. "I would like to be the best weapons expert of Konoha and I absolutely hate liars." Naruto nodded.

"Then next would be me," the orange haired boy said, arrogantly. "I'm Yamanaka Kenji. I like apples and pineapples and I dislike my brother." He folded his arms and just stared at Naruto.

"Okay," Naruto finally said, blinking and then turning to apparently the eldest of his students.

"Um, I… My name is Umu Ryomaru." He fiddled with his hands, which reminded Naruto of Hinata when she was younger. "I, eh…"

"Come on, just say it Ryomaru," Kenji said, looking annoyed.

"Calm down, let him do this on his own tempo!" Emi shot back.

Ryomaru looked uneasily from the one to the other before looking to Naruto and continuing. "I'm the youngest of five children. I only have older sisters. My father is a ninja as well and my mother and sisters are herbal experts, mainly focussed on poison making." He fiddled with his shirt. "I like classes with Sakura-sensei," he said softly. Naruto's eyebrows shot up a little. So this was her student she had 'given' him. "I hate gossip." He was still fiddling with his shirt. "And I admire Godaime Hokage-sama," he ended his introduction abruptly.

Naruto grinned. "Good. That will be it for today; tomorrow will be the real test."

"What test?" Emi asked.

"Didn't they tell you after graduating?" Naruto made a note to himself that he should tell Iruka-sensei that they _should tell_ the students about this. They hadn't done so when he became a genin, they still didn't do it now?

"You only become a real ninja after you pass my test."

"What?" they said in unison.

"But that's not fair!"

"I know, so that's why I will give you a tip for tomorrow." They hung to his lips, desperate for a good advice. Naruto liked it.

First he wanted to follow Kakashi's example and say 'Don't eat breakfast, you might throw up,' with a scary voice like Kakashi had done for the desired effect, but he thought that was kind of cruel.

"Eat your breakfast, drink your milk and be on time on the training field," he grinned mischievously. All he got were stares.

"Well, see you guys tomorrow on training ground 3 at eight." And he vanished.

In reality he had just jumped into a nearby tree, but what did these children know. He saw how they still looked a bit shocked, but soon stood up and went home, Eri and Ryomaru walking together as Kenji went in another direction.

Naruto sniggered and jumped out of the tree. He could understand a bit what had made Kakashi say the things he had to them the first time they had met as a team.

Slowly he began walking in the direction of Ichiraku ramen; looking forward to talk to Iruka-sensei about his probably new students.

-oXo-

A/N: Thank you all for wanting to try reading the sequel! So this is the first chapter I hope you like it and the rest of the story ^^ Next chapter will be a lot longer.

I do have to say that this story won't be updated as fast as Byouki.

And I just want to add this: Buki Eri is a distant relative of Tenten and Yamanaka Kenji is a nephew of Fuu.


	2. Chapter 2: Team 9

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sensei.

Thank you all who reviewed :3

This chapter is all about Naruto's team, to get to know them better. (It has become a real long chapter 0.0 because I didn't want to devide it in two)

-oXo-

**Chapter 2: ****Team 9**

_5__th__ of April_

Naruto could hear the bells jingle in his pocket, though someone else would have never noticed. He was on his way to the training ground. He still had ten minutes to get there before it would be eight o'clock, so he took a small detour to Sakura's apartment, but she wasn't at home.

Arriving at five past eight he saw the kids were already there standing in front of the wooden stumps, looking a bit nervous.

"Ohayo!" he greeted them, "Ready for the life changing test?"

"Sure, I will easily pass this test."

"First I have to see that for myself, Kenji-kun." Naruto took out the two bells. "As you can see I have two bells." He jingled them as he was being watched closely. "You guys will have to take them from me."

"But there are only two bells," Eri said.

"How perceptive of you," Naruto grinned. "It means that at least one of you will not succeed this test. The losers will be tied to that pole and be sent back to the academy." His grin became a tad more evil and he swished his tail.

"No-no way," Ryomaru said disbelievingly.

"It's up to you. You have up till ten." He turned around, but halted. "Oh, and you better mean it, or else you won't even come near me." He walked on and held up his hand. "You can start."

Kenji looked rather angry and charged forward, grabbing a kunai and jumping to Naruto. Naruto didn't even turn around and just side-stepped him. "Miss, but I like the attitude. You really go for it, or is there something else going on?"

Kenji tried to punch him and threw shuriken, but it didn't help. Finally Naruto just shoved him away and he halted seven meters from Naruto. He came to a stop in between Ryomaru and Eri, breathing hard.

"It's not working like this, moron," Eri said harshly. She got a foul look from Kenji.

"Haha, Eri-chan is right," Ryomaru laughed. Kenji growled and Ryomaru stopped laughing and shrunk a little.

Naruto turned around again and jumped out of sight behind the bushes, making a Bunshin. The three kids cleared the open ground and went into the bushes as well.

"Alright, what do we do know?" Ryomaru whispered.

Naruto's Bunshin suddenly appeared right in front of them.

"I don't have these ears for nothing, you know," the clone said as he pointed to his fox ears, "Next time better be quiet," and he threw some shuriken to the trio.

"You moron!" Kenji called to Ryomaru before he jumped to Naruto and began fighting hand-to-hand again. Eri sighed but decided to help him, since her taijutsu was definitely better than his.

She took one of her twin wakizachis and attacked Naruto as well. Ryumaru just stood there for a moment. He was a medic ninja, all he had learned from Sakura was how to heal people, what could he do?

Walking back and forth watching his teammates, his hands went up his hair, what to do? He would not be able to get a bell and then he would be send back to the academy. He was slowly beginning to panic.

Suddenly he clasped his hands on his cheeks. He decided he needed to do something. He wasn't right about that he didn't know how to fight and so, finally, he joined the other two.

Eri now was using both her small swords and Kenji had a few cuts in his clothing. It almost looked like Naruto wasn't doing any effort to fight them (which was true of course). Ryomaru jumped into the fight as well.

Finally Eri was fed up with the fact she could not even scratch Naruto and began making hand signs.

"Katon Haisekisho!" She blew ash out of her mouth, covering a small area around Naruto and Kenji.

"Kenji-kun, get out!"

Kenji jumped out of the ash-cloud and then Eri set it on fire with a zippo. When the smoke had cleared, nothing was to be seen. Naruto was still in the bushes, watching how his clone came back to view as the last smoke disappeared. His doppelganger had not even remotely been caught in the fire.

"Good job, doing such a fire jutsu on your age, but it wasn't good enough," he said, smirking, they were starting to work together, but still not really with the motive of being a team.

"No way!" Eri stepped forward. "Ryomaru-kun, please help me out." She ran to Naruto's left as Ryomaru went to his right. Kenji just waited for the right moment to use his family jutsu, not knowing the danger that may lie ahead if he would actually succeed, for he did not know of the Kyuubi's existence inside Naruto (although there were some giveaways, none of their generation had ever been told).

Finally seeing his chance he made the hand signs and directed it to Naruto. Naruto would have easily dodged it, but it was his Bunshin so it didn't really matter anyway.

The moment the jutsu hit, Kenji opened his eyes again. "What the-?" The clone dispelled as Naruto emerged from the bushes. "A clone?"

"Good eye, Kenji-kun, but I would advise you not to try it again against me, not that you would succeed anyway."

Kenji balled his fists. Slowly he opened them again. "Eri, Ryomaru, come over here."

Somehow they complied, probably because they knew he had a plan. He took an empty scroll from his pouch and started scribbling things down. Naruto was impressed he came up with it, instead of just telling them his plan. Naruto would have easily been able to hear. Of course in a real battle you could not just take it easy and gather people and scribble things down, but still, it was a start. So he decided to just wait and see what they had planned.

A moment later, Eri and Ryomaru nodded and they proceeded to the bushes. Naruto grinned; finally, they had a plan. He did not know what they wanted him to do, so first he just stood there, but nothing happened. Then he decided to move around a bit. When he jumped on a tree branch, he came to know that that was what they had wanted him to do.

Eri came forward, her two small katana's pointing at him. Naruto dodged and at the same time Ryomaru kicked him against his shins. He had probably aimed higher, but was nonetheless a bit surprised when he actually made Naruto fall. This was probably due to the fact Naruto almost weighed as much as he did, probably less.

Naruto of course recovered fast, but saw Kenji and Eri came hurtling to him and Ryomaru from above. Naruto really liked where this was headed. They were working together. Still he didn't want to practically hand them the bells over. And who would be the one without a bell, just the one last to get it?

They fought on for a while, slowly becoming more and more tired. Ryomaru could tell, for he was feeling it himself too. Besides he was the medic ninja, he had to keep an eye on the health of his teammates. Suddenly he stopped in his tracks, Eri and Kenji not really noticing.

Hadn't Sakura-sensei told him that his teammates came first? He should take care of them. Sure he could help them in a fight, but his main goal was to keep them healthy and make it possible for _them_ to fight on.

Earlier, when Kenji had told them his plan, he'd said that it might be a good idea for one of them to sneak up behind Naruto and create a chance for the others, but none of them really wanted to sacrifice a bell for that. So all they were doing now was making attempts of creating a chance, without hurting themselves in the process. Kenji's brilliant plan was not working because no one wanted to really start it, but now Ryomaru would.

He charged forward and did exactly as Kenji had described. He let the other two keep Naruto busy. He saw his chance, glided underneath Naruto, who looked a bit surprised as he saw the boy slide between his legs, and stood up behind him. His hands went forward and grabbed, just as Kenji had said, Naruto's tail and pulled.

Naruto yipped and out of surprise stopped moving, accidentally making the kids think this is what happens when you pulled his tail.

Kenji and Eri grabbed the bells and happily jingled them in their hands, high-fiving Ryomaru. "Thanks Ryomaru-kun!"

Naruto smirked and moved towards them. "It appears you have succeeded, except-" he turned his head to Ryomaru.

"No, you can't fail Ryomaru-kun! Without him, we would not have gotten the bells, right Kenji-kun?"

Kenji just stayed silent for a while, but when he looked over to Ryomaru. He couldn't deny it and so he nodded.

"Great!" Naruto said, "Then I think I don't need to tell you guys about teamwork anymore."

"What?"

"You obviously know now this was all about teamwork. Without teamwork you wouldn't have been able to get the bells."

Sudden realization appeared on Eri and Kenji's faces. Ryomaru just nodded.

"When did you realize?" Naruto asked.

"When I thought of what Sakura-sensei had told me; a medic ninja is placed in the team to help his teammates, not only in health but also in battle and making them able to succeed the mission, without losing them."

Naruto gave a big smile. "I should have known Sakura-chan had taught you something like that."

"Sakura-_chan_?" Ryomaru mouthed silently, but it was soon forgotten because of Naruto's next words.

"That means you guys have passed. You are now officially team 9, making you real genins. Congratulations."

Cheering could be heard from Eri as she hugged Kenji, who pushed her off, and next hugged Ryomaru.

"We passed, we passed," she chanted. Ryomaru gave a small smile, which slowly became bigger; especially after seeing Naruto's big smile.

Kenji just stood a bit stupidly, not being able to decide if he wanted to celebrate or act like he had known all along he would pass.

"Come on, we'll grab something to eat. You guys must be hungry."

"You should be buying us, since it was your fault we didn't eat anything this morning," Kenji told Naruto.

"What? When I told you to _do_ eat something?"

"We thought it was a trick," Kenji murmured.

"Hahaha!" Naruto ruffled his hair and turned around. "Okay, I will. Let's go, I'm hungry."

-x-

That evening, Naruto sat on the couch writing his report about his new team, when Sasuke entered the house. He walked up to Naruto and dropped next to him. Naruto just kept on writing as he was almost finished. Sasuke bend forward to read what he was writing while planting a kiss on Naruto's cheek. Naruto smiled and finished his sentence.

"So the team passed the bell test then." Sasuke didn't really ask. Naruto's smile just widened and he leaned back against Sasuke's shoulder; his mouth awfully close to Sasuke's.

"Only got one thing to say to that," he said as Sasuke leaned in to close the last few centimetres, making their lips lock.

"I think I don't really understood that," Sasuke said as they parted, playing dumb.

"I'm not telling you again, you should pay more attention. I thought you were a genius," Naruto said grinning while he stood up, stretched and yawned.

As he did so his shirt went up a bit and Sasuke took his chance. He laid his hands on Naruto's skin around his hips.

"Don't get cocky with me," Sasuke said as Naruto yipped.

"Ah! Get those cold hands off of me!"

Sasuke just gave a small grin. "You're such a good heather, I'll keep them there for a while."

"Ne, Sasuke~, I want to go to bed, let go of me." He tried to pry Sasuke's hands off, but not really making any progress as Sasuke held them tightly in place.

"We can walk upstairs like this." Sasuke began pushing Naruto towards the stairs.

"I'm being used," Naruto mumbled as Sasuke just smirked all the way upstairs.

* * *

><p>"We just finished our fist mission EVER!" Eri yelled, high fiving Ryomaru. "Up to the next one."<p>

"Can't we just get a D-rank mission each? This was so easy, why do we need four people for such a mission. It's such a waste of time this way," Kenji complained.

"Just wait till you see what the next mission is," Naruto said sternly.

"Hn. I bet I can handle it on my own."

"I would like to see that," Eri exclaimed.

"I'll race you there and be the first to finish the job."

"Okay!"

Ryomaru just stared at the two arguing teammates. When he looked up to Naruto he shrugged. Naruto gave him a smile in return.

"That's nice of you two, to be so enthusiastic."

"Naruto-sensei, what _is_ our next mission," Eri asked, suddenly wondering if she hadn't done something foolish. Kenji probably had the same thought, by the look on his face.

"You'll see. Go left here."

They turned the corner and were now standing in front of the Inuzuka veterinary practice. Hana, Kiba's older sister, was just putting the garbage outside. Naruto waved at her.

"Ah, Naruto. I was already wondering when you would get a genin team."

Naruto just smiled back. "Aren't they cute?" He got some angry stares from some level below his own and just grinned.

"They are. I'll get Kiba." She turned around and bellowed into the direction of a dog kennel, "Kiba! Get over here!"

Naruto's ears were still ringing when Kiba showed up with his always present and loyal Akamaru.

"Yo, Naruto." He looked down to his team. "Ah, you're the genin team that are to take care of the nice chores around this place." He gave a nasty grin, which even made Kenji wince. He wasn't so enthusiastic about doing this alone anymore.

"Where's your sensei." Kiba looked around the team, past Naruto, looking for their sensei.

Eri giggled and Naruto scoffed a bit. "Naruto-sensei is right over here."

Kiba turned to Naruto. "Really? She gave you a team?"

"More than I can say for you."

Kiba fell silent for a moment. "If you will follow me," he began, like they were customers, "than we can get started."

Naruto grinned as he pushed Kenji forward to follow Kiba. "Didn't you say something about completing this mission on first?"

The answer was a filthy glare. Oh, Kenji still had to learn that Naruto was quite immune to his level of glaring, thanks to Sasuke.

They walked to a place where all sorts of open cages were where dogs were sitting.

"You have to clean these places up, you can find the stuff to do that with over there," Kiba vaguely waved his hand to a small corner where brooms and buckets stood, "You have to clean these places up while the dogs are in the cages, because you can't mix them with others and they are to ill to be moved. Those over there can all be moved to the spare cage over there and-"

Kiba explained very shortly, very fast and very unclear what they had to do. Of course it wasn't a very hard job to understand, but still.

"I'll check on you later to give you the next chore." And with that Kiba left.

Sometime later Eri was scrubbing the floor with a broom together with Ryomaru as Kenji was cleaning another cage. He was grumbling. Naruto was a good distance away from his team.

"Sensei?"

"Yes, Eri-chan?"

"Is the smell too much or something?" She looked up a bit suspiciously her far away sensei.

"No."

"Then why are you standing so far away? Can't you help us?"

"As a matter of fact I think it's better if I not." Naruto looked up to Eri as she turned around to face him, leaning on her broom. Kenji and Ryomaru turned as well. "Because you see, most animals don't really like me. I appear to sent some negative things to them they don't like." Naruto thought it was better not to say that the animals just didn't like his chakra signature since it had changed.

Since the fox had been resealed two years ago, Naruto's and the fox's chakra had slowly began mixing together as they had partly merged. It wasn't like they had become one, but their chakra's sort of had. Although the fox was still producing his own chakra, as was Naruto, it fused together as soon as it was made inside his body. The yellow and the red had mixed to an orange colour.

This partly demonic chakra however was what upset the animals. Naruto hadn't really minded. The frogs he summoned where big enough animals to be okay around him. It was mostly the wild animals or smaller (summoned) animals that scampered away from him.

"Sure, everybody can say that animals don't like them. Come on, sensei. You are partly animal yourself, how can they not like you?"

Ryomaru stared at Eri as she had been so blunt about their sensei's appearance, which never had been a part of the subject before.

"I can show you, but the consequences are all yours."

"Deal."

Naruto pushed himself off from the wall against which he had been leaning and walked up to the first cage that had already been cleaned.

As he came into a five meter range the dogs began to snarl and bark. At three meters he stopped. Some dogs were attacking the fence viciously, others were barking and some tried to crawl away as far as possible.

Naruto stepped back again, not wanting any trouble with Kiba. Eri was convinced however, by the look on her face.

"Okay, I believe."

"You must always believe what your sensei tells you."

"Ha!" Eri mocked. Naruto grinned back.

Ryomaru left the cage they were cleaning to calm down the dogs.

They just finished the cages when Kiba came back. "Wow, your team actually did a good job." Kiba looked at Naruto standing a bit away at the wall. "Still can't come close, hah?"

Naruto shook his head.

"Well, let's get inside, there are some more cages to clean there."

"What? No~…" Eri ended her sentence silently.

"They're smaller cages, for animals after an operation." Kiba turned to Naruto. "You can get into the house, my mom would like to have a talk with you while having a drink." He grinned evilly.

"Why do I feel like I wouldn't want to?"

"Because I wouldn't want to either, but I can't have you inside the veterinary practice."

"I know. I guess I will have a talk with your mom then."

"Good luck," Kiba called after Naruto.

Naruto held up his hand. "Thanks. And watch the kids."

"We're not kids," Kenji said and he looked to the other two. "Perhaps they are." Eri gave him a slap on the back of his head.

"You guys are funny." Kiba led them inside to the cages and told them what to do.

Naruto had a very… interesting talk with Tsume, to say the least. Kiba's mother sure was enthusiastic when she talked. Naruto was glad when two hours later (that had meant he had spent two whole hours with that woman!) his team came in, looking worn out and happy to leave too.

"Thank you for the… eh tea?" Naruto hadn't seen a single tea pot during the two hours, just some alcohol. To be very honest Naruto hadn't been that uncomfortable with Tsume, she could actually be quite funny, but overall Naruto was of the opinion that she was crazy.

"What now?" Kenji asked as they had left the Inuzuka compound.

"Back to Tsunade no baa-chan for-" Naruto stopped as he saw Ryomaru stare at him, quite angry to be exact.

Naruto raised his eyebrows. "What's wrong Ryomaru-kun?"

"You can't call Hokage-sama baa-chan?"

Naruto blinked. That was his problem? "Why not, she _is_ quite old, you know."

"_And_ our Hokage." Ryomaru crossed his arms at that.

Naruto was stunned. "Okay… We'll go to," he glanced at Ryomaru, "_the Hokage_ to tell her we finished our last two assignments and get a new one." He stressed the word Hokage on purpose.

"Yeah, new mission!"

"Eri, please…" Kenji glared at her.

As they entered Tsunade's office she looked up from her work to them. "Already finished the first two missions?"

"We did!" Eri smiled.

"Got another mission for us Tsunade no-," Naruto stopped as he glanced at Ryomaru, who glared back at him again. "Eh, Tsunade?" he decided to finish his sentence.

Tsunade looked up from her paper, quite surprised by Naruto's sudden change of the way of addressing her. "I got-," Tsunade slowly moved her hands over some papers on her desk while still looking at Naruto, narrowing her eyes a little, "a few D-rank-," she blinked and finally was able to look at what she was grabbing for, "missions left."

She scanned the documents for a moment. "This one looks good for you." She handed Naruto a paper with the mission and waved her hand for them to leave.

"Let's go. Tsunade n… still has some paperwork to do."

Ryomaru smiled and Tsunade thought she might know what was going on here and grinned.

As they had left the Hokage office Naruto read the mission and sighed. "That thing is still alive?"

He handed the paper to Ryomaru and he read it out loud for the rest to hear.

"-find the missing cat Tora. She's recognized by the red ribbon on her left ear," he finished. Looking up to his teammates and beginning to fold up the paper very neatly.

"What did you mean by 'is that thing still alive'? Is it that old?" Kenji asked.

"Well, let's say if it's the same cat I had to catch when I was a genin, this will be a very easy mission."

"Cats can get about 18 years old, even older when-"

"Ryomaru," Eri warned Ryomaru to refrain him from giving them a lecture about cats.

"Sorry."

"I didn't know that." Naruto put his hand on his chin. "I feel sorry for that cat."

"Why?"

"You'll come to notice."

Twenty minutes later they knew.

"Here you go, oku-sama. Your cat Tora."

"Oooh, Tora-cha~n."

Ryomaru hurriedly backed away after returning the cat to its owner.

"I think I know what you meant, sensei," Ryomaru whispered, feeling very compassionate for the cat, as he shuffled behind Kenji.

"Yeah."

-x-

Four missions later and Eri almost fell against Kenji as she tripped.

"Get out of my personal space," he whined.

"Sorry, I tripped," Eri said a bit irritated.

"Guys, I get the point, you're tired. We'll call it a day, okay? Seven D-rank missions on one day is a nice number."

Ryomaru nodded and Eri gave a silent 'Yeah'. Kenji didn't say anything.

"Guess I'll have to write some reports then, see you again on the training ground tomorrow."

"Bye sensei," Ryomaru and Eri murmured.

Naruto smiled before he took a right turn. He felt very happy to have his own team. He'd never thought it would make him this happy. Sure he had thought Konohamaru some things, but this was different.

He wondered what Sasuke hated so much about the idea of kids. He shrugged. He just didn't know what he was missing.

* * *

><p>Naruto was leaning against one of the wooden logs as his team stood before him, their eyes on him as he had just explained what they were going to do.<p>

Eri had a mix of confusion and excitement on her face. Ryomaru was ever quiet and staring at the ground again and Kenji... He didn't seem to be very happy.

"That's just stupid. I'm not going to do that."

"Fine, you can just leave us, not being able to work in a team and end up doing D-rank missions for the rest of your life," Naruto said, trying to scare the orange haired boy a bit. It worked as Kenji crossed his arms, but didn't argue.

"Good." Naruto made a few hand signs and slammed his hand onto the ground. Markings appeared, than a puff of smoke and three small frogs stood in front of him. They were no bigger than a melon. "Okay, team, good luck in catching them, no matter which one," he smiled. His team and the frogs immediately jumped into action.

Naruto had fun watching his students move around. Maybe this felt like a mission, like catching the lost dog, but Naruto wanted to see their weaknesses and strengths and be able to point them out immediately, without a mission depending on it.

He moved up to Ryomaru, who just failed to catch the frog by a few centimetres, and gave him some advice. He did so to the others as well and finally, two hours later they had all caught a frog at least four times.

Naruto dismissed the frogs, seeing they were quite tired and slowly scampering away from him, and turned again to his team.

"Now let's go on to the next training." He grinned as he saw the faces of his genin. "But for that I would like to move from our usual training ground to another one. I heard from your old teacher at the Academy, Fudo-san, that he liked to take you to this training ground."

Ryomaru immediately lit up and a smile appeared on his face. "The training ground with all the wild animals?" Kenji and Eri seemed less enthusiastic and sighed.

"Great," Eri said without enthusiasm, "this means I will be sowing pants tonight."

"I thought you liked sowing?" Naruto asked.

"I do! But I don't like the scratches that come with them."

"Then it's time to learn to evade them," Naruto smirked.

"What about you, Naruto-sensei?" Ryomaru asked.

"Ah, most of those animals can handle a bit of evil chakra, they'll survive."

Some eyebrows shot up. "Evil chakra?" Kenji asked.

"Ah? Did I say that?" Naruto waved his hand as his eyes were closed. "Never mind that, let's go, I would like you to get something from the forest on that training ground I placed there yesterday." Naruto had started walking toward the other training field.

"What is it?" Eri asked as she quickly took some paces to walk next to him. She had to step out to keep up with him.

"Hmm, what shall I say?" Naruto put his hand on his chin, considering how much he would tell. "I believe it was a green coloured object, not bigger than a ramen bowl," Naruto said as he moved his hands to indicate a size a little smaller than a ramen bowl.

"Okay~," Kenji said annoyed, "And?"

"That's all I'm going to say about it. You must know that sometimes missions can be quite vague and it is then up to you to find out what you have to do or in this case what you have to look for."

Kenji sighed. He wanted a real mission or real training. He crossed his arms.

"Now, for the rules," Naruto said as he took a left turn onto a small clearing with a fence in the background.

"What?" Eri asked, a bit afraid of what kind of rules there might be.

Naruto smiled again, he seemed to do that a lot around them. "Kenji-kun," Naruto stopped walking and turned to Kenji, who almost bumped into him as he had been scowling, "I want you to hand me all your equipment and I'll give you only some wire you can use." Kenji's eyes narrowed and he hesitantly handed his pouch to Naruto. Naruto handed him the wire he grabbed from the pouch. He turned to Eri.

"Eri-chan gi-" Before he could even say anything she had given him her own pouch and was taking her small katana's from her belt to hand them over as well. "Heh. You can have some smoke bombs." Eri's face fell. What was she supposed to do with some smoke bombs in a forest? "And Ryomaru-kun," as he turned to Ryomaru he took the pouch he gave him, "I'll give you three kunai." Ryomaru took the kunai.

"I want you to find the object together as a team. As soon as I realize you're in a 5 meter radius of the object and have not been working together to get there, I will move the object to another location."

Suddenly a smirk appeared on Kenji's face. Naruto wondered why, because he knew Kenji had most trouble working as a team. But Kenji was in fact just interested in this hide and seek environment. He loved hide and seek, even as childish as some people might find the game. He loved sneaking around.

"Can we use ninjutsu?" Ryomaru asked timidly.

"Sure." Naruto walked to the fence and opened it.

There was a very small clearing behind it and he decided to wait over there and listen to what they were doing until he needed to move the object.

"Ready?" he asked. His team nodded. "Then you can go."

Naruto heard them move through the forest and they already started bickering after 20 minutes, he sniggered and went into the forest as well. He could hear animals scatter away from him, some even larger than a pony.

This forest was special as all kinds of creatures had been moved here from all over the world. Animals lived here that no one had ever seen before. But because of this the forest had been divided into another training ground as it became too small. The bigger and more dangerous animals had been replaced to another training ground; training ground 44, a.k.a. the forest of death. In this forest, training ground 43, resided only the less dangerous animals and was used by this Fudo person to take the last-years of the Academy to train.

Naruto had to replace the object several times, but in the end Ryomaru had had enough of Kenji's and Eri's constant bickering and acted up as best as he could.

"Perhaps we should not use the equipment we were given individually, but as a team?" He started angry, but at the end the sentence, his words were almost inaudible. Kenji stared at him with an angry look on his face and Ryomaru almost shrunk a little.

"Okay, we can try that," Kenji suddenly said.

Eri was surprised, but if he thought it might be a good idea, she would praise Ryomaru some more. "Great idea, Ryomaru. I think you are a way better ninja than Kenji."

Kenji stared angrily at her, but didn't say anything to that. Instead he laid his wire on the ground in front of him and the others followed his example. "I got an idea."

Lucky for them, Naruto was somewhere further away and had some trouble with some animals that were trying to attack him, so he didn't really hear their plan.

_Those __fucking, stupid monkey_'s, he thought as he was finally able to kick one of them away. After another struggle to remove one more monkey from his sandal, as it had attached its sharp teeth into his foot when he had tried to kick it away as well, he suddenly heard Kenji and Eri bicker again.

He shook the last monkey off, swore never to return to this damn forest and wondered what had come to his mind in the first place to even think of coming here. He took off to the object, which was in fact a small green can with dried pears, to once again remove it.

When he got closer he almost hadn't seen the wire that had been spun between a couple of tree's, as his mind was still on those stupid animals. He avoided them, but when he landed on the ground he was just in time to see Kenji jump at him. A smoke bomb was thrown, right before Kenji grabbed his leg to slow him down.

"It's here, it's close!" he yelled.

Eri and Ryomaru quickly came to him and Naruto started coughing, and tried to clear the smoke. He actually for the first time since two years hated his light weight as Kenji easily held him down by hanging at Naruto's leg with all of his own weight. Naruto thought it would be rather crude to just kick him away, but he would really like to get out of the smoke.

Just as he was able to drag his leg with added weight out of the slowly clearing smoke, Eri and Ryomaru landed in front of him, holding up the can.

"Found it!"

Naruto looked at them and then started laughing as Kenji let his leg go and stood up. Soon his team followed his example and even Kenji couldn't keep the grin off his face.

"I must say that this wasn't what I had imagined with this training mission." As he looked around he noticed they had spun the wire and set other traps around this place, had lured him here with their quarrelling to pinpoint the more exact location of the object.

"Didn't you once say that _your sensei_ told you to look underneath the underneath?" Kenji asked.

"You actually remembered that?" Naruto was impressed, he was sure he himself would have forgotten by now. "Good, let's get out of this annoying forest and never come back."

"You had some trouble on your way, sensei?" Eri sniggered.

Naruto pursed his lips. "Nothing I couldn't handle, just some crazy monkey's."

"And a bat," Ryomaru said as he pointed to Naruto's back.

"A what?" Naruto looked over his shoulder and saw Ryomaru had been right. A small bat had attached itself to his vest. It's gleaming eyes stared at him.

"Weird..." He tried to grab it, but it shifted away from his hand every time he made a snatch to it. After a while he growled in frustration. "Stupid..." His voice drifted off and he turned his back to his team and hunched down. They tried to grab the bat, but failed at catching it as well. It was very small and quite agile for a bat.

Naruto stood up again. "You know what, never mind. If he is so brave to hang there, he can stay there." It wasn't like the creature was bothering him.

Ryomaru smiled as he looked at the cute black creature and that it could come with them. Eri giggled all the way back to their training ground as the bat seemed to have trouble holding on to Naruto's vest on their way out of the forest and comically dangled on one claw, making some cute noises. Kenji again tried to appear like he didn't see anything.

Finally arriving on their own training field again, Naruto was glad the bat wasn't squeaking anymore. He twitched his ears some times and finally looked down at his team once more.

"I hadn't really planned any other specific things for today, so what would you like to do now?"

"Sparring," Kenji said.

"Practicing medical jutsu."

Eri and Kenji looked at Ryomaru. "We can't do that together," Eri stated. Ryomaru blushed a bit.

"Perhaps you can practice it after the sparring," Naruto grinned, already foreseeing some minor injuries.

"Two against one? Or all against each other!" Eri sounded more exiting as she said the second option.

"You can say. Next round Kenji-kun can say and then Ryomaru-kun."

"Okay, all against each other it is!" Eri yelled as she ran up to the spot where they always sparred. Kenji and Ryomaru slowly followed her.

Naruto walked over to a tree and sat down against it. He heard a squeak and realized he had almost squashed the small bat by accident and quickly sat up straight again.

"Sorry," he quietly said, "You better move over for a bit." The small creature slowly complied, looking suspiciously to the back of Naruto's head, trying to find out if he was up to something. Finally he was out of the way and still thought it seemed to be save from Naruto's hands. Naruto leaned back against the tree.

As he watched his team fight against each other he started feeling quite sleepy. He hadn't slept a lot that night. Sasuke had a cold and had snored all night. He didn't even saw his team's first round ending and changing the formation for the next round. As he drifted off, the bat finally found it safe enough to move onto Naruto's shoulder and watch the genin fight.

When he woke up again, it was because someone was pulling at his ear. He suddenly jolted up and Eri fell onto his lap. Naruto looked around and finally realized what had happened.

"I fell asleep?" He tried to sound innocent as his hand moved to the back of his head, the bat hanging at his arm and moving amusingly with it.

"You did!" Eri said accusingly. Ryomaru was fidgeting with his fingers as he looked over to Eri and his sensei. Kenji stood still as he observed.

"Ah, sorry. You didn't have to pull at my ears though."

Eri smiled. "That was because I just wanted to do that. They're very soft." She didn't bother to move off of Naruto's lap.

"Ah. You didn't draw on my face or something, did you?" Naruto touched his cheeks.

Eri raised her eyebrows. "Why would we do that?"

"Never mind." Naruto pulled his hand away, he knew he certainly would have grabbed his change at that.

"You already have whiskers, why would we add something to it?" Eri said as she grinned evilly. Ryomaru's fidgeting got worse.

"I guess so," Naruto said. "Is it time to stop training or are you just having a break?"

"We were deciding how we could punish you for sleeping during our training," Kenji said.

"Huh?" Naruto lowered his hand and glanced at the bat on his arm. He was about to try to remove it, when Eri grabbed his arm.

"Please don't." Naruto looked up to Ryomaru, The boy was too good for animals and all living things in general.

"I know how we can punish sensei," Kenji suddenly said.

"How?" Eri asked. Naruto raised an eyebrow.

Kenji grinned. "Tomorrow he will have to teach us a new technique."

Eri caught on to his idea. "Yes, a new jutsu," she grinned.

Kenji nodded.

"Ryomaru-kun?" Eri asked and both she and Kenji looked over to him. He nodded. "Then it's decided." She looked back up to her sensei and leaned forward. "You'll do it?"

Naruto's eyebrows shot up. "Eh?"

"It's your punishment, you have to!"

Naruto watched them for a second.

"Fine, I'll think up something." His team grinned at him. Naruto sighed.

-x-

As Naruto returned home he saw Sasuke just coming down the stairs.

"Hey," Sasuke greeted him with a husky voice.

"How are you?"

"Fine." Sasuke sniffed once and walked into the living room. Naruto followed.

His eyebrows rose as he saw all the tissues in a litter bin next to the couch. He certainly hoped Sasuke was better, he didn't think he could handle another sleepless night; listening to Sasuke's snoring and sniffles all night.

Suddenly Sasuke turned around. "I'll clean it later," he said as he indicated to the litter bin.

"You sure you're all right?"

"Yes I'm fine, Sakura's medicine did wonders." Naruto wondered if that was sarcasm in his voice or if he just imagined that.

Sasuke's hand travelled up to Naruto's cheek. "I promise I won't wake you tonight."

Naruto seemed to gleam a little at that. Sasuke's hand dropped again and he turned away from Naruto. Suddenly his head stopped and turned back as he stared at Naruto's side. "What's that?" he asked.

"Huh?" Naruto looked down as well. "Oh, that. The little guy attached itself to me in the forest of training ground 43. Hasn't left since. Couldn't really catch it anyway," he mumbled the last part.

Sasuke moved his hand to grab it, but Naruto stopped him. "You can let Kou–chan stay."

"What?" Sasuke's eyebrows rose. "You named it?" His eyes were very narrow now.

"Ahaha, not really, Ryomaru-kun did. Besides it's just short for koumori, bat." Sasuke just stared from Naruto down to the bat named Kou and followed it as it moved up to Naruto's shoulder and started glaring back at Sasuke.

"Are you just going to let it stay there?"

Naruto shrugged, the bat moving with the gesture. "Why not? It's quite cute." Naruto stroked the small head of the bat with one finger and its eyes closed a little in pleasure. "See?" Kou almost seemed to smirk.

Sasuke just glared at the bat and Naruto as if he had gone crazy, which he wasn't sure yet if it really _had_ happened.

"Never has an animal clung to me like this since my chakra changed, especially not this small," Naruto said as he lowered his finger. "Not even my summoned frogs and toads."

Sasuke moved a little closer to take a better look at the bat. "You know that it is sucking your chakra, don't you?"

"Huh?" Naruto looked to the gleaming eyes of the bat that had settled on him.

"Please tell me you did..." Sasuke deadpanned.

Naruto grinned uneasily. "Not really."

"Quite a bit of chakra too," Sasuke said as he had activated his Sharingan.

"Oh? Ah well, I have enough to go around, I can miss it."

Sasuke shook his head and was almost sure when he looked back at the bat that it had stuck out his tongue at him. He almost did a double take, but the bat had gone back to glaring at him. "Nah," he said as he turned away. "As long as you remove it when we get to bed."

"Sure will try."

"I'll help you otherwise," Sasuke said rather harshly and with that sat down on the couch, blew his nose and grabbed a book. "It's your turn to cook tonight." Naruto rolled his eyes.

Sometime later, as they sat at the table in the living room eating, Naruto decided to tell Sasuke about his punishment.

"So what shall I teach them?"

"How about to not let them boss you around?"

Naruto grinned at Sasuke. "You're so funny."

Sasuke snorted and had to blow his nose immediately after, ruining the effect.

"Perhaps I should get you some medicine right now? I can go to Sakura-chan."

"Not necessary," Sasuke growled.

"You don't like to be ill, don't you?" Naruto teased. Sasuke's eye began to twitch. "I'm sorry Sasuke. I'll go to Sakura-chan and when I come back I'll pamper you, okay?" Naruto said cutely, but the effect was undone by the bat staring over his shoulder.

Sasuke couldn't think of a good answer to that as he was distracted by the bat. "Hn." He turned away from Naruto.

"Okay, I'll be back before you know it," Naruto said before he kissed Sasuke on the cheek.

"Fine," Sasuke hoarse voice sounded sadly and he leaned back in the couch.

Naruto laid his head on Sasuke's shoulder and put his hand on Sasuke's cheek. "I promise I'll stay in the bed the whole night and won't leave, is that better?"

Sasuke grumbled, knowing Naruto would keep this up if he acted grumpy.

He could feel Naruto's other hand under his shirt and following his spine. It tickled. Naruto moved to his ear and whispered softly, "I'll sleep on top of you all night, so you won't get cold."

A shiver ran down Sasuke's spine as the soft vibration and breath from Naruto hit his ear. Naruto laid his chin on Sasuke's shoulder again.

"You'll just roll off when you're sleeping," Sasuke sniffed.

Naruto planted a gentle kiss on Sasuke's soft cheek. "Then you can lie on top of me," he whispered again.

"No, I like you on top of me."

"Really?" Naruto asked softly as he was now thinking about something else than just sleeping.

"You can take control," Sasuke said mysteriously and this time Naruto felt a shiver up his spine. He couldn't deny that this idea gave him a nice feeling.

"I thought you liked to be in control."

"I do, but I'm ill and you need to take care of me," he said with a sad voice.

Naruto breathed in shakily. "I think I'll have to. If you're that sick, than all I can tell you to do is take some bed rest and I'll spoil you, can't I?"

"Hm," Sasuke hummed.

"I," Naruto whispered into Sasuke's ear as he breathed out and Sasuke cringed a bit in pleasure, "will take care of you." His lips brushed against Sasuke's auricle.

Sasuke finally couldn't suppress the grin forming on his face. And Naruto noticed it.

"Well, I'll be back in a minute, okay?" he whispered in the same ear and Sasuke grabbed his vest.

"Be real quick," he told him.

"I will." Naruto pulled away from his grasp and walked up to the door. He waved to the raven as his tail swirled behind him.

In the end Naruto met with Ino in the hospital and she gave him some medicine.

"But there is no real medicine to cure the cold, you know that right? Best thing that helps is to rest and drink enough."

"I didn't know that."

"Really?" Ino asked disbelievingly.

"I-I mean about the medicine." Naruto grinned and Ino eyed him suspiciously.

So eventually Naruto was back in 13 minutes as he had used his speed to get home fast.

Sasuke was still lying on the couch, his eyes closed. Naruto dropped the small paper back on the table and hunched down beside Sasuke, stroking his hand through his hair. Sasuke was breathing through his mouth and as he sat up, he immediately grabbed for a tissue to blow his nose.

"I'm not really getting excited by this," Naruto told him as he looked on.

Sasuke growled. Kou was watching him again from his spot on Naruto's shoulder, which didn't improve Sasuke's mood. "I can't help it you never get ill. Have you ever had a common cold in your live," he asked.

"I have... a long, long time ago, but I have," Naruto said as he pouted and looked away.

"Have you ever have child deceases like the chicken-pox?"

"I don't know, have you?"

"Of course, it's an illness all children have had."

"Do you remember?"

"No."

"Well, then how do you know you've had it?"

"My mother told me," Sasuke mumbled. Naruto couldn't help but find this attractively cute. He brushed Kou off his shoulder and hugged Sasuke.

"I've been ill before when I was younger, but I guess it got a lot less."

"I can't remember the last time you were really ill."

"I can pretend to be ill if you like, but I think you actually like it better to be ill yourself and have me take care of you," Naruto teased, having no idea how true this was and that was why Sasuke couldn't respond to it, though Naruto didn't notice. "At least with me almost never getting ill I can do anything with you when you are, without getting sick myself." Naruto started kissing Sasuke's neck.

Sasuke moaned hoarsely and Naruto liked this deep sound of Sasuke's voice. He looked up to Sasuke again as he was slightly flushed and his lips parted as he was breathing through his mouth. Naruto moved his finger to Sasuke's lips and began following them slowly, wetting his lips with his own saliva. They felt so soft.

"You're so cute when you're ill," Naruto said and Sasuke narrowed his eyes a bit, but he wasn't angry. His other hand went up Sasuke's cheek, which was warmer than usual, and slowly went up his hair.

"Does this make you feel better?" Naruto asked softly.

"Come closer, it's cold," Sasuke said as he bit softly on Naruto's finger.

Naruto sat down on Sasuke lap and they both lay down. Sasuke's face was warm, but his body was indeed shivering. "Poor Sasuke."

Sasuke grumbled and Naruto started kissing his jaw line.

"Let's see if my chakra can heal you as well," Naruto said between kisses. Sasuke had no idea what he meant when he saw orange chakra slowly coming from Naruto's hand that was still stroking his lips. It went up Naruto's arm and then started spreading over him as well.

It felt strange, tingling. He'd heard from other people it could feel vile and hurt, but it actually felt nice and warm. Perhaps Naruto's mood had something to do with it.

"Does it hurt?" Naruto asked as he retracted his finger from Sasuke's lips and looked into his eyes. Sasuke shortly shook his head and moaned huskily as the warmth spread over his body. It was hard to keep breathing steadily and he only could breathe through his mouth. Naruto smiled as he was relieved Sasuke didn't felt uncomfortable with his chakra. He had never done something like this before, so he didn't do anything else for a while to just let Sasuke get used to his chakra.

"It feels so warm," Sasuke finally said as Naruto was so quiet and still staring at him, to see if nothing changed.

"Now you know why I'm almost never cold." Naruto laid his head down on Sasuke's shoulder again.

"You think it might heal you as well?" Naruto asked after a while as now his thumb was caressing Sasuke's cheek.

"I doubt it, but please don't stop because of that." Sasuke felt Naruto's tail slowly began to move back and forth as a smile spread over his face, softly he began purring.

They lay there for a bit longer as Sasuke slowly fell asleep. Naruto stayed like this, keeping this chakra cloak around the both of them until he finally fell asleep as well, smiling.

-oXo-

Next chapter will be about team Kakashi.


	3. Chapter 3: A mission

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sensei.

Thank you all for the favs and alerts :)

-oXo-

**Chapter 3: A mission**

_25th__ of April_

Team Kakashi had been called on a mission again two days ago. Their mission to capture a rogue ninja from Konoha had failed miserably until now. They had followed the trail of the ninja into a cave like area. They had found out (what had confirmed their information) that he had joined some other rogue ninja's from different villages. But unfortunately the caves hadn't been a coincidental place for their meeting. The cave was full of traps and other natural dangerous places.

It so happened that team Kakashi had fallen into a deep pit, which had closed by some rocks behind them. Not daring to use any Doton jutsu's as the entire place might collapse any moment, they had started moving down a tunnel.

Given that only Naruto could see in the dark, he was the one that had found a crack and was leading them through it. And so they started shuffling through the narrow dark opening, Naruto telling them when to duck or look out for openings and rocks on the ground. They walked slowly and close to each other.

"I think I lost Kou-chan..." Naruto suddenly whined.

"Oh, no... and he was so cute," Sakura said.

"I know. Hopefully he's all right."

"Good riddance," Sasuke mumbled. Naruto suddenly wondered if Sasuke had been jealous of the small animal. He hadn't been able to get rid of it in the last few days and it had even slept with him as it had clung to his shirt. Naruto remembered how Sasuke had scowled at the small creature as they lay in bed hugging each other and Kou-chan had suddenly crawled up to Naruto's shoulder to glare at Sasuke; he seemed to have done that more often.

One night Naruto had woken up because Sasuke was moving a lot and Naruto suspected him of having tried to catch the small bat (probably to strangle it or something), but he'd failed. Sasuke hadn't said a word all morning.

"At least he's in his natural environment. I think he'll be fine," Sakura assured him and herself.

"Beside that I think he has sucked enough chakra off of you to last a lifetime."

Naruto grinned at Kakashi's comment. "I guess he did take away a lot of chakra for such a small animal."

"You had a lot to offer."

"I'm just surprised he actually liked it."

Silence fell again as they worked their way through the small corridor, which became even narrower and they walked really close to each other now; almost spooning. Suddenly Naruto stopped.

"Sasuke, stop poking me," he said annoyed.

"I'm not," came Sasuke's even voice.

"Then what…?" It was silent for a moment. "Oh," Naruto said understandingly.

"Ow, come on Sasuke. I know this is exciting, walking so close to each other, but…" Sakura's voice drifted off. It was silent for a moment and then Sasuke sighed.

"I told you, I am not poking you. Not with anything or anywhere." Again silence fell.

"Perhaps Sakura should check-"

"I will certainly do no such thing, Kakashi-sensei!"

"Then what's poking me?"

"You're the one with night vision. Take a look."

"Wouldn't you think I would have already done that if it weren't for the fact _that I can't turn around_?"

"But you're so small, you-"

"I'm not small, you're just freakishly tall," Naruto huffed.

Sasuke grinned. "All right, I will check it out. But I'm warning you, I'm going to touch you now, to feel what's wrong since I _can't_ see anything in the dark." Sasuke groped forward to Naruto and felt around him. Starting with his butt on purpose, which made Naruto shift a bit, but he kept his mouth nonetheless.

"I can't feel anything."

"But I do. Go a little higher, to my right side."

"Around here?"

"A bit lower."

"This better?"

"Almost."

"It's that I'm not into male touching, but this could have been really-"

"Kakashi-sensei!"

"If only we were girls..." Naruto said, sweat dropping. Kakashi giggled.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura's voice echoed through the dark again, but this time louder. "I want to switch places as soon as possible; I don't feel safe walking in front of you anymore."

"I really don't feel anything."

"But you just went over it."

"When?"

"Right now, there." Sasuke felt Naruto's flak jacket but didn't feel anything so he shifted his hand under it. In the fabric of Naruto's orange sweater was a small hole.

"There's a hole in your sweater, right underneath the brim of your vest." He put his finger through it and felt something small and hard. He pushed it a bit harder and when he did Naruto gave a yelp and bumped his head against the ceiling.

"Argh. I think you found it," Naruto said, rubbing his head.

"I think some small stone or something pierced your clothes when we fell to the ground."

"Yeah, saving you guys from injury by breaking your fall, you mean."

"You're the one with near unbreakable bones, you can handle it," Sakura said and Naruto grumbled. "But leave it till we can move around some more and I can take a look at it."

Naruto proceeded down the narrow tunnel, giving them instructions when to duck their heads or watch their step.

As time passed and no exit or less narrow part came, Naruto began to walk slower and slower, not giving any warnings anymore.

"It's getting dark," he said.

"Naruto, you probably haven't noticed, but it already _is_ pitch-dark. And please walk on a bit, what happened to your amazing stamina?" Kakashi said.

"I still have my stamina and yes I noticed we walk in a cave, doesn't make the fact go away that it's getting darker and harder to see where to walk." Naruto sounded annoyed.

"Are you sure, I had more of the idea it became lighter? I actually think I can see a small clearing," Sasuke said as he put a hand over Naruto's shoulder, pointing.

"Where?"

"I can see it too. Finally I get to switch in line," Sakura said relieved.

"Sakura, please, I haven't done anything to you."

"I really don't see a clearing. What are you – ouch!" A thud sounded as Naruto hit his head for a second time.

"You mean you weren't joking?" Sasuke asked, now concerned.

"I thought _you_ guys were joking." He rubbed his head viciously.

"Just walk on for six more meters and we reach the clearing, Sakura will check your eyes and your side then," Sasuke reassured him. Naruto just grumbled.

Reaching the clearing the first thing Sasuke did was stretch himself, as did Sakura and Kakashi. The clearing wasn't larger than three square meters, but was a whole lot bigger than the crack they had just walked through.

"Ugh, that was confining. Better not have claustrophobia, walking here." Sakura turned to Naruto, who slowly began to unfold himself and carefully stretched. "Okay Naruto, where is that poking in your side?"

As Sakura walked to Naruto and Naruto zipped his vest open and held his orange long-sleeved shirt up. Kakashi made a small fire with his Katon jutsu, lighting the cave as Sasuke checked it out for any exits.

"Thanks Kakashi-sensei that helps," Sakura said, trying to look over Naruto's side.

"It's weird; I can hear and smell the fire, but I can't see anything."

Sakura looked up to Naruto's face and saw him stare in front of him at nothing in particular. His pupils looked a bit glassy. Looking down at the wound and seeing a small olive green stone sticking out of his side, Sakura knew what was going on.

"Ah, that's a blinding stone. It paralyzes a small part around the wound, that's why you didn't feel it and didn't really notice it was there before."

"Or that might have been because of everyone falling on top of me," Naruto huffed.

"Might be," Sakura said calmly and proceeded her explanation, "As the minerals of the stone flow in your bloodstream it makes you lose your eyesight, but it's curable. We just need to get to the sunlight, it will slowly dissolve the minerals. The longer the stone is in your side, the longer it takes to get the minerals out."

She took out a squeezer from her pouch and started removing the small pointy stone. "It has already started to heal around the stone." She pulled harder and Naruto grinded his teeth as she pulled it out, opening the wound again.

"Can't deny that feels better."

"I think I found a new crack which might lead somewhere. There's a small airstream coming from it, but it needs to be larger before we fit through."

"Great, let's do this." Kakashi and Sasuke used a Doton jutsu to carefully make a new passageway. Soon they finished and began walking further, Sakura deliberately walking behind Naruto, who had followed behind Kakashi.

After walking for a while, Sasuke and Kakashi stopped, making Naruto stumble to a halt just in time to not walk into Kakashi. Sakura however noticed to late and pushed Naruto against Kakashi, sandwiching him as a dull 'thump' sounded.

"Oops, sorry," she said. Naruto grumbled and Kakashi was suddenly uncharacteristically quiet, making a dull clapping sound.

"Why did you sto-"

"Where's my book?" Kakashi was searching the floor, touching it carefully.

"What?"

"My book, it fell."

"What book?" Sakura actually already knew the answer, but-

"My Icha Icha-"

"You were walking with it in your hands?"

"..." All that came from Kakashi was the groping sound.

"He was. He was feeling the pages."

"No, Naruto, you misunderstood what you heard. I was-"

"-moving your hands through the pages in the dark," Naruto finished Kakashi's sentence.

A sigh sounded from Sasuke. "Can we focus on our real problem? There's a fork on the... road." His last word was over voiced by Kakashi.

"Found it!" Kakashi sounded a bit too happy to Sasuke's liking.

"Kakashi, do you want a katana through your chest?"

"You wouldn't be able in this narrow space."

"We'll see."

"Sasuke-kun, Kakashi-sensei, please?" Sakura's voice sounded serious. Kakashi and Sasuke were silent once more as Sakura shook her head, though only Naruto heard that.

"Go into the left," Naruto's voice echoed.

"There's an opening there?" Sasuke asked as he and Kakashi moved left. Naruto however went right and stopped there.

"Why are you going right?"

"Shhh," Naruto perked up his ears and was quiet for a short while. Then he pushed Sakura back into the small corridor they came from.

"Now go right." And as they did, Naruto went to the left.

"I can hear bats on this side," Naruto informed.

"That means that there's an exit that way," Sakura finished his sentence.

"Yeah, nice bats..." Naruto backed once more, so Sasuke could take the lead again. "We have to get past those bats."

"They won't harm you, so don't worry. Just let them sleep."

"They are not sleeping."

"Then just walk past, they won't eat you."

"That's not what I meant. I thought you knew me by now, Sakura-chan."

"I thought too, I didn't know you were afraid of bats. Especially with Kou-chan hanging on you for days."

Naruto stopped, which caused Sakura to walk into him.

"Why do you stop?"

"You still don't get it, do you?"

"No, wha-"

"The sound, Sakura! They make really high pinched, ear deafening noises. One bat I can handle, but a hundred or more?"

Sakura stared at him, though Naruto couldn't see it. "Then cover your ears."

"It's not like I can just lay my hands on them and I won't hear anything anymore."

"You still got your human ears, so-"

"You know that's not what I meant."

Sakura grinned. "It can't be that bad." Suddenly Naruto realized she was teasing him; Naruto hated it, because he always fell for it.

"Really? Do you-"

"Please, girls, stop the fighting."

"I'm not a-"

"Then you want me to believe Sasuke takes on the girl part between the two of you?"

Silence fell. "What?"

Naruto heard Sasuke sigh. "Just bear with it Naruto. If you walk on, we're out of here shortly and the sooner you're out, the sooner you can do whatever you want with Kakashi."

"Please no, I don't do such things with my students, none of them. Besides what would Anko say..."

"Alright, I'll walk through the bats, at least I won't be able to hear Kakashi-sensei anymore." Naruto pushed Kakashi forward, who bumped into Sasuke, who almost hit his head. "Walk on!"

And as they went further, the screeching became louder and louder. To Naruto that is. The rest just heard flapping and sometimes some high pinched sound. Naruto stumbled further, while trying to keep his ears closed as best as he could, without falling. Sakura steered him through the cave, to the exit. He couldn't see and couldn't hear properly.

As the flapping of the bats became lesser, more light came to their retinas.

"Finally, the exit!" Sakura almost pushed Naruto now, ready to get out of the narrow darkness.

As they came out of the cave, they stepped into the fresh morning light with a rising sun greeting them.

"Itai, itai," Naruto murmured, massaging his ears.

Sasuke walked up to him. "You okay, 'ruto?"

"What?" he said a bit loud. "Sorry," he added in a normal tone. "This is weird."

"What is?"

"I can only hear you the normal way and a high pinched tone with the other ears." He looked up to the directing he thought Sasuke was. "Weird," he said again and grinned as he twitched his ears playfully.

"Dobe."

"Teme."

He almost got hit in the head, but Sasuke changed his mind halfway lifting his arm. "You look like a mess."

Naruto shrugged. "You too."

"You can't see me."

"So? You're probably looking the same."

"You're right Naruto," Sakura's voice came from behind. Naruto made a little jump; he hadn't heard her walk behind him.

"How are your ears? Still hear a high tone?"

"No, it's returning to normal already." He turned his ears and could actually hear the sounds coming back with the second.

"Thought so." Sakura turned the blond around and took another look into his eyes.

"What are you doing?"

"Checking your eyes."

"I expected as much, but I was actually asking Kakashi-sensei."

Sakura looked over Naruto's shoulder as Kakashi was happily fumbling through the pages of his beloved book, with a happy face. They sighed heavily.

"I miss the cool Kakashi from the old days..." Naruto said. Sakura and Sasuke nodded in agreement.

Kakashi was apparently aware that they were talking about him, because he quickly pocketed his book and was very serious once more. "I think we ended up around..." he looked at their surroundings, "10 kilometres from our original point." He looked over to Sakura. "How's Naruto, Sakura?"

"Fine," Naruto answered before Sakura could say anything.

"Then can you see how many fingers I'm holding up?" she asked a bit irritated.

"Er-" Naruto was obviously trying to hear her hand movement as his ears turned, but since you can't really hear an amount of fingers when they hang still in the air, he couldn't. Sakura sighed.

"Then don't say things like that," she said as she had made her point and lowered her hand, "With your healing rate, your eyesight will probably return in five days."

"Great, now my team is going to make all the more fun of me." Naruto could already imagine Eri trying to pull his ears again.

"They make fun of you? You must act up to them a little," Kakashi said.

Naruto grunted. "They just though it was funny I fell asleep during their training."

"You fell asleep during their training?" Sakura asked. She valued the way of teaching a lot, since she was a teacher herself. "They are your team for… not even two weeks."

"It was just once, because Sasuke had kept me awake all night."

Sakura was opening her mouth to say something about this as Kakashi was giving an interested look, but Sasuke was faster with his answer, "You know I had a cold, that's not my fault."

"But you kept snoring all night long. Even in the living room I could still hear it."

"That's because you can hear insanely much, I also can't help that."

"Me neither." Naruto crossed his arms and silence fell.

Sakura looked from Sasuke to Naruto, as they stared at each other; or as far as they could.

Kakashi finally cleared the silence. "I think we better head back to Konoha and report what has happened. The rogue ninja's are probably long gone, since we've been stuck in the cave for at least the whole night. We won't be able to get to them; they are with too many now. Beside with Naruto like this in our-"

"I can still-" Naruto immediately interrupted.

"It's more of a job for the ANBU anyway, Naruto," Sakura told Naruto, who huffed.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Naruto finally said.

-x-

After walking for a few hours they passed the entrance where they had entered the cave. After a quick inspection from Sasuke and Kakashi, who found nothing in particular, they proceeded their journey back to Konoha.

When the afternoon broke, they stopped at the border of the woods they had to pass, to eat and rest. Naruto was leaning against Sasuke's back, with his head resting backwards onto Sasuke's shoulder, his eyes closed.

"Hnnnn, hungry~"

"Just wait another minute and then it's ready."

"Too lo~ng."

Sasuke sighed. "Kakashi, can you pass me the rice." Kakashi gave Sasuke the rice as a ringing sounded.

"Yeah! Ramen! Ramen! Ramen!" Naruto chanted as he leant forward holding his chopsticks up.

"Will he ever outgrow this?"

"I've given up hope a long time ago."

Sakura nodded at Kakashi's answer. "I know, it was a stupid question."

"Sasuke? What's taking so lo~ng?" Naruto whined as he held out his hands blindly in the hope Sasuke would give him his ramen.

Sasuke finally shoved the hot cup into his hands and all became quiet once more as Naruto was satisfyingly blowing his hot ramen.

"Ah, blissful silence," Kakashi said as he was silently eating his own rice while reading his book. As Sakura looked over to Kakashi's book she remembered something.

"Ah, have you already read the book I borrowed you, Sasuke?" She turned to Sasuke.

Sasuke looked up from his rice and considered her for a moment. "Hn."

"What do you think of it?"

"It was interesting."

"Wasn't it? Especially-" and Sakura just kept going, holding the conversation alive even after Sasuke's short answers. But as they were on the road again, Sasuke's answers were becoming longer and more interested as they came to the topic he liked. Naruto walked next to Kakashi behind them; Kakashi still reading his book.

"How many times have you read that book now?" Naruto asked Kakashi out of boredom, because he wasn't really interested in the answer.

Kakashi looked up from his book to look at the blindly-staring-in-front-of-him Naruto. "Well..."

Naruto was surprised he was actually considering the question.

"You don't really want to know." Apparently he hadn't.

"I guess not." Naruto was silent for a second. "What does Anko say about it?"

"Nothing much." Kakashi reached out to grab Naruto by his sleeve to steer him away from a small puddle. "She likes to talk about other topics."

"Sure, like dango," Naruto said as Kakashi let his sweater go.

"You're one to talk."

Naruto grinned. "I didn't say it's boring." He turned his head slightly to his left and twitched his ear. As he turned his head back he continued, "When are you going to move in with her? I understand you are together almost every evening anyway."

Kakashi looked a bit surprised at that, but since Naruto couldn't see that, he hadn't given anything away. "Aah," he said like he was thinking, "Could be tomorrow, could be in ten years."

Naruto glared at him (a bit to Kakashi's left, but the intension was there). "Right. Probably in two months."

Kakashi grinned. "Who knows," he said softly as he went back to his book. Silence fell once more.

Naruto swayed a bit and Kakashi steadied him as he kept reading. Sakura and Sasuke had finally finished their conversation and had now fallen silent as well.

"Where are we somewhere?"

"We should be in Konoha by the evening," Sakura answered.

"Not really what I asked," grumbled Naruto softly as he stumbled over a small rock.

Sasuke looked over his shoulder to Naruto. Naruto still got dizzy when he couldn't see for a long period. It took longer for him to become really dizzy, but it would come eventually. Sasuke remembered Naruto's birthday a few years ago and grinned.

Sakura saw Sasuke grinning and pulled up an eyebrow. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing, let's take a tea break."

A soft 'thud' sounded as Kakashi closed his book and walked to a small clearing in the woods. Naruto fell flat on his back and appeared to have fallen asleep the moment he'd touched the ground.

"I wish I could do that," Sakura said as she eyed Naruto jealously and sat against a small bolder.

"Hn, yeah, he does that a lot," Sasuke grumbled as he sat down beside her. "Still don't know how he can do that. Probably he has nothing on his mind." Sakura grinned at that.

"You mean it's empty up there," she joked back.

-x-

They neared Konoha, Naruto half-carried by Sasuke on his shoulder, moaning every once in a while. It had taken them over half a day in total to return to the village.

"Sakura and I will report to the Hokage. You and Naruto can go," Kakashi said.

"I can go with you," Naruto started to protest, but Sasuke just dragged him in the direction of their home. "Or not," he said as he hopped on one leg, till he found some much needed balance on Sasuke. He heard Sakura giggle, before walking away with Kakashi to the Hokage tower.

"Sasuke? Naruto? Are you injured?" someone asked as he stopped walking. Naruto recognized the voice. It was Koketsu.

"No, I'm quite alright," Naruto said as he hung on the taller Sasuke's shoulder.

"Had a rough mission, huh?" Izumo said.

"Yeah, just a bit," Naruto answered, sounding a bit tired. Koketsu gave him another look-over and then noticed the white in Naruto's pupils.

"Well, I see Sasuke has everything under control." He decided he didn't have the time anyway. He fingered the bandage around his nose. "Bye."

"Bye."

"How come everyone in the village knows they belong together, except for them?" Naruto asked as they walked on.

Sasuke shrugged. "Perhaps they really don't like each other that way."

"I doubt it."

Sometime later, after Sasuke had almost come to the point of threatening Naruto to climb on his back, which he had still refused, Sasuke had finally literally dragged Naruto to their home.

He even wanted to drag Naruto up the stairs, but at the last moment decided against it. It wasn't worth it. He picked Naruto up and walked up the stairs and took a left to their bedroom; Naruto nestling into his chest.

Sasuke gently lowered Naruto onto the bed on his back not really caring on what side of the bed. He and Naruto didn't really have their own side in bed, they just got in bed and whatever side you were on was your side for the night... more or less.

As Naruto was laid down, his blond locks touching the soft pillow, Sasuke stared at him and his sparkling blue eyes and their milky white pupils.

Sakura had said that his vision would return because of the sunlight. And as Naruto lay there on the bed, sunlight shining on his face, Sasuke thought this was as good a place to be for Naruto as any. He smirked.

"What are you smirking about? And why are you still standing there doing nothing?" Naruto asked, his nose wrinkled a bit.

"Just admiring you," Sasuke said calmly.

"Oh, is that so?"

Sasuke leaned forward and put his hands on either side of Naruto's head. His bangs almost touched Naruto's face. "Can't I?" he dared.

Naruto looked straight into Sasuke's dark orbs with his own unseeing eyes. A cool hand crawled its way under his shirt, up his chest. "I don't know. What's in it for me?"

Sasuke climbed up the bed and sat on Naruto's pelvis. His right hand still supported him, the left one was under Naruto's shirt. He slowly retracted his left hand, circled Naruto's bellybutton before he pulled it out and began to zip open Naruto's green vest. "I haven't decided yet."

Naruto didn't do anything, just lay there, let Sasuke do all the work and especially not getting any dizzier. His vest now lay open under him, his sweater was pulled up and lying over his head, because Sasuke hadn't bothered to pull them away.

Two hands were once again on Naruto's stomach as Sasuke started to think. Some people had stated that Naruto looked rather feminine (Kiba had so repeatedly) and Sasuke once again looked Naruto over to see this.

Naruto was smaller than himself, as well in height as in width. He had stayed relatively small compared to their fellow male comrades. In fact he was the smallest, except for the females. Although as surprising as it had been for everyone, Hinata had grown taller than the blond (and the rest of the girls for that matter).

He was a lot lighter in weight, darker in skin colour. Compared to the other males, Naruto had a slightly more feminine shaped body, though not overly feminine. He looked like a pretty boy, as Kiba had often pointed out to Naruto's annoyance, and looked rather petite.

Sasuke remembered one time they had been on a mission with the teams of Konohamaru and Ino-Shika-Cho. They had been told to guard a noble man's enormous property. The general of the guard had believed Naruto to be a woman and had tried to give him a female uniform. Naruto had not been amused.

It wasn't like Naruto was really small with his 170.9 cm. In fact if he stood next to the others he looked very lean and light, making the others look more bulky and heavy.

Especially in fight he moved gracefully around the field, like he didn't keep to the rules of gravity and could even defy it with his strength that looked like someone of his posture should not be able to have. Although Naruto wasn't that strong at all, Sasuke could easily win from Naruto when it came to strength; it was just Naruto's dense bones that could make Naruto endure it a lot longer.

His speed far exceeded others; Sasuke couldn't even follow him without his Sharingan and had trouble following him with it activated. He could jump immensely high and land from great heights that would normally break someone's legs. In midair he could turn around in a way that seemed impossible.

Yes, Sasuke loved to see Naruto fight to his fullest. He never could get enough of it. He just kept thinking to himself that he was lucky to have such a special and beautiful person to himself. Sasuke knew he could get a bit possessive at such times, but even he liked it in some weird way, how others kept looking at Naruto at those moments (till a certain extend that is).

Particularly Kiba, who was always loudest about the gay thing, and sometimes had even called Naruto 'Naruko' to point out that he was the female of the two. The first time when Kiba had watched one of Naruto's graceful fights, Sasuke had seen his mouth drop. He had been astounded by Naruto, but had denied everything afterwards as Sasuke had confronted him with it.

He grinned and Naruto reached up to Sasuke as well and laid one hand in the crook of Sasuke's neck while the other still lay beside him. Naruto's hands were smaller than Sasuke's, but a bit bigger than Sakura's, though not by much. He really had a soft, smooth skin, which amazed Sasuke every time he touched it and it worked as an addiction to him.

One of Sasuke's hands glided higher once more, over the scar on Naruto's neck and finally reached his chin. His chin had definitely a more feminine shape than that it had once had. Naruto had always had a more round face than Sasuke, Sasuke's was pointier. Now his face was more feminine round instead of male round and his lips... Sasuke's hands stroked Naruto's lips and gazed his small nose. He stroked the whiskered cheek and gently kissed the lips. Naruto closed his eyes.

As Sasuke broke loose from the kiss to return for a less gentle one, his other hand still lay on Naruto's abdomen. He felt it become slightly warmer, almost too hot to be alright, but still not burning hot. The seal was appearing and Naruto sucked in some air as it did.

The seal hadn't changed for the past two years; it was still a black swirl with scribbles around. Four times the scribbles reached out a bit to form small swirly vines. It appeared only when Naruto somehow used more of the fox's chakra than normal or when he was aroused in some way.

Sasuke felt a pull behind his head as Naruto had apparently thought it had taken too long for the next kiss to come. Sasuke grinned into the kiss while he felt Naruto breathe out through his nose. He felt Naruto's tail sweep behind him, hitting his legs.

Lying there on top of Naruto, kissing him, while feeling a hand slowly creep up his side to his back, Sasuke knew he was happy.

-oXo-

A/N: Please review? I would like to know what you think (even if it's just one sentence... or one word) :3


	4. Chapter 4: Meetings Part I

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

First of all I want to thank everyone for their many reviews, I was very happy :D There have been quite some questions about this fic being a mpreg. So I thought I would tell everyone (and hope I don't disappoint too many readers), but this will not be an mpreg. So enough talking; now I send to you, from my holiday in Toronto, the next chapter:

-oXo-

**Chapter 4: Meetings Part 1**

_26__th__ of April_

Naruto sat on one of the five wooden poles of training ground 4, the training ground for his students.

After going to bed early the day before, because of his dizziness, he was awake rather early this morning.

Still not being able to see, he thought it was best to leave home early, get safely to the training ground within the estimated extra time and rest some before his students came.

Even the small walk from his house to the training ground had taken a lot of effort without someone guiding him. He had almost fallen over stupid bumps and holes in the ground. Besides he hadn't dared to lean on anything on his way here, afraid he might lean against something breakable.

As he sat there on the wooden post, swaying his tail gently back and forth, nice and warm in the sunlight, he hummed a song Sasuke had thought him years ago.

"Ohayo, sensei!" a cheery voice came from Naruto's left.

"Ohayo, Eri-chan. You're early."

"You too, sensei." She walked up to the pole Naruto occupied. "What happened?"

"Ahh, yesterday's mission went a bit wrong," he said as he scratched his head. He heard Eri take a sharp inhale. "But it isn't as bad as it looks, I'll be fine soon."

Eri leaned forward against the pole with both hands, looking up into Naruto's eyes. "But you're… you're blind," she added the last part softly.

"Right now, yes, but apparently the stone that caused this can be healed by sunlight. So I'll be fine. Dizziness is my biggest worry for now."

"Dizziness?"

"Aa," Naruto confirmed. "As you might have noticed, I have two pairs of ears."

Eri nodded, but realized Naruto could not see this. "Yes."

"With both pairs of ears comes a balance system, which means I have one too many. That wouldn't have mattered if they worked together, but in my case those systems work against each other. Bad luck I guess." He gave her a smile. "So, why are you so early?"

Eri turned around and let herself glide to the ground. "Mom went on a long mission two days ago and oba-chan is in the hospital, because she broke her leg on a mission last week." She lowered her head a bit. "So with both my mom and aunt gone, I was alone and I thought it might be better to sit alone over here, with a chance someone else is early too, than alone at home."

"Well, then we are both lucky." He smiled at her once more.

Silence fell and Naruto started to hum again. Naruto didn't know what Eri was doing, but she was very quiet.

"Sensei?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you dream very often?"

Naruto thought it was a rather weird question, but his curiosity was prickled nonetheless. "I think I dream a lot, but I almost never remember." He looked down at Eri, though not being able to look at her directly; he just hoped if she looked up a bit, she would get the point. "Why? Do you dream a lot?"

"Lately." She fell silent but when she saw Naruto twitch his right ear, she got a small smile on her face. "Last night I dreamt mom died in a fight with sand shinobi. She told me to take care of myself and oba-chan. She looked really scared." She took a deep breath. "They are the only family I got. I wouldn't know what to do if I lost them."

"And you got your team." Eri smiled. Naruto turned his head into the direction of the sky. "Hmm, that was definitely a bad dream, but a dream nonetheless. You're mom is a great ninja, like her comrades. She will be just fine. Though she probably was right about taking care of your oba-san, as she is in the hospital."

"You're probably right." She started fiddling with one of her long braids.

"I don't know what time it is, but what do you want to do in the remaining time before the boys are here?"

Eri looked up to Naruto once more. "We still got an hour before it's eight." She stood up and Naruto jumped down to the ground beside her. "We could practise with the wakizachi's?" She looked at Naruto's eyes, "unless…"

"Okay," Naruto said as he held out his hand.

Eri smiled and handed Naruto one of her twin blades and took a stance a couple of metres away.

"Whenever you're ready," Naruto said as he stood opposite her, taking his own stance.

Eri attacked first and approached Naruto, being rather agile for a genin. Naruto just side stepped and Eri turned around, using the force of the turn into the sway of the katana.

Naruto blocked it and made a swing at Eri instead. Eri ducked and made an attempt to kick Naruto as well as throwing some nice swings.

It was actually quite weird, but fighting with Eri like this wasn't nearly as bad as walking alone down the streets. At least now he had to concentrate a bit harder at his surroundings, not hurting Eri and not falling over. It was quite fun. At least he would be able to continue this for an hour.

However after forty minutes of sparring Naruto heard Kenji approach even before he walked on to the training ground. So Naruto handed his borrowed wakizachi back to Eri as she tried to catch her breath.

Naruto walked up to the third pole and leaned against it, trying to steady his head a bit. It wasn't much to worry about, more like an annoying buzz.

Kenji came into sight, at least for Eri, and walked up to the posts without a word.

"Ohayo, Kenji-kun," Naruto and Eri called almost at the same time.

"Ohayo," came the stiff reply. Naruto expected he had only replied because his mother had lectured him a few days ago about being polite to others. Too bad for Kenji his mother had done so in front of his team when they had walked home from training.

Kenji just sat down beside the first post and glared at Naruto, then Eri and then looked away into the sky.

Not soon thereafter Ryomaru walked onto the field.

"Ohayo," he silently said.

"Hello, Ryomaru-kun," Naruto greeted once more. The moment Ryumaru looked up a bit from Eri to Naruto's direction his shyness was gone.

"Naruto-sensei, what happened to you?" he asked rather loud for his normal tone of voice.

Kenji looked at Naruto as well, but couldn't figure out yet what was wrong.

"Blinding stone," Naruto simply said.

"I learned about that," Ryomaru said as he waved his hand for Naruto not to tell any more. "It is found mostly in caves…" he said as he tried to remember the information he had learned from his text book. "Around the Hakarimi caves… and, and it is cured by… by…" He looked up to Naruto. "Don't tell me, I know it."

Naruto grinned and so did Eri. Kenji had of course finally found out what was wrong with his sensei (apart from the fox ears and tail); the name 'blinding stone' was a rather obvious give-away. Not that it bothered him, now he knew. He just crossed his arms and pretended not to listen to Ryomaru, though he still wanted to know what he knew about the stone.

"Oh yeah, by sunlight!" Ryomaru beamed.

"Correct, so you don't have to worry about losing your sensei. Not that I would ever abandon you guys over something like this." Naruto pointed to his eyes.

"What are we going to do today? Another boring mission?"

"Sorry Kenji-kun, no mission. Today training is on the schedule; though I must say that if you do your best, along with the others, I might have a surprise for you at the end of this afternoon."

"Not ramen again, right?" Kenji asked.

"No, better, but I'm not going to tell you. Just do your best at team training and you will see." Naruto grinned mysteriously.

Eri and Ryomaru had long fallen for Naruto's trick and been motivated as they were already on their way to the clearing a bit further away. Kenji turned as well, huffing and shaking his head.

"Oh, and Kenji-kun?" Kenji turned towards Naruto, "You guys will really like it, especially you."

Naruto could almost hear Kenji's brain working. First he had to keep a straight face although he was now curious as well. Second he really wanted to know what it was.

Naruto let them spar for a while with each other, giving tips as far as he could, while mostly only hearing the fight.

After lunch he sparred with them, three against one. Their teamwork still wasn't perfect as Kenji was arrogant and Ryomaru let Kenji boss him around. Of course Eri couldn't take this and wanted to protect Ryomaru, which on his turn he didn't really appreciate, though he would never tell that out loud.

However, when push came to shove, they could work like a real team. Naruto was proud of his students, but of course he couldn't afford to tell them just yet.

Naruto just finishing telling Kenji to stop kicking Ryomaru when he was on his team (Kenji thought Naruto wouldn't notice without sight); they were fighting two against one and rotated every 20 minutes. Naruto stood a on a safe distance while listening. His ears almost seemed to dance on his head, turning in all kinds of directions.

"Kenji-ku~n," Naruto warned Kenji and the orange haired boy looked up to his sensei, like the others, as Kenji hadn't done anything wrong.

"I didn't do anything!" he said defensively.

"Exactly," Naruto grinned. Kenji had been standing still for a while now, probably been trying to use his jutsu, but on the field you couldn't just stand around, not this long. So Naruto made sure they noticed so.

Kenji muttered something that Naruto decided to ignore; Kenji wasn't so good at taking his sensei's humour (or any humour at all) and he knew Naruto was joking around with him right now.

"Kenji-kun!" Eri said to him as she had heard his mumbling.

"What?" he asked like nothing was wrong.

"Come on, let's take a small break. You must be thirsty," Naruto said to calm everyone down. He pointed to the logs and they followed him. Naruto sat down in front of one of the logs.

"Hey, Ryomaru-kun," Eri asked and he looked up to her. "Your family makes potions, right?"

"Y-yes," Ryomaru mumbled.

"You use it too?"

Ryomaru nodded. "M-my kaa-san is trying to teach me to throw poisoned senbon, but I think i-it's not as easy as throwing kunai or shuuriken."

"Wow, that's great! Senbon are indeed harder to throw, but are more precise than-" Eri began a mostly one-sided conversation and Naruto just listened. Ryomaru giving short answers when she let him and when he was able to put his shyness a bit aside

"What are you doing?" Naruto suddenly asked and Eri and Ryomaru looked up to Naruto.

Kenji was standing behind him.

"Nothing. Can't I just stand here?"

"Of course you can," Naruto smiled. He knew Kenji had tried to scare him, because he had tried to sneak up on Naruto. Eri and Ryomaru had not noticed and resumed their conversation. Naruto tried to grab Kenji, but he missed a bit at the first try, the second was a success though. Naruto pulled Kenji closer and he though Naruto was going to punish him or something as he looked a bit shocked.

Naruto pulled him closer so when he whispered, the other two wouldn't notice. "You're pretty good at sneaking up to someone."

Kenji pulled up his eyebrows. "Who says I was sneaking up to you?" he asked arrogantly.

"I do and I have a proposal for you."

Kenji seemed interested at that and sat down beside Naruto so Eri and Ryomaru wouldn't notice them talking.

"What?" Kenji asked with a deep voice, trying to hide his curiosity.

"If you can teach your teammates to sneak around like you can and together are able to sneak up to me, I'll tell you all a secret." Naruto was curious to know if Kenji would accept such a proposal and if he would be willing to try to teach his teammates for something like that. Beside that, Naruto hoped he would learn to work better with the others.

Kenji pulled up his nose, knowing Naruto wouldn't be able to see it. "Why would I want to know a secret from you?"

"There's nothing you would like to know?"

"No."

"Hmm." Naruto had not expected that, he had been sure his students would like to know why he had fox ears and a tail, but still. "Okay. Then what about this; I'll teach you a new technique."

Kenji thought this over and Naruto could almost hear his brain work. "What kind of jutsu?"

"A jutsu the Yondaime created," Naruto said in a low whisper, knowing that this would make Kenji accept the proposal if he ever would accept it.

"Sure."

"Deal."

"Hm," Kenji grinned and stood up.

"Yes, let's get back to training. We rotate; this time Eri-chan and Kenji-kun will fight against Ryomaru-kun." His students stood up and resumed their training.

Naruto grinned as he thought back to his deal with Kenji. He was sure that he wouldn't be able to manage to sneak up on Naruto anytime soon (if at all). He wanted to be sure they could work as a team first before teaching them a technique that you could perform individually. He would not teach them the Rasengan before they where ready for it and now he had an indication of when they would be ready by themselves or otherwise he could teach them sooner. Plus he thought it would be good for them to work together to achieve a goal. This was a way to try to let them improve their teamwork on their own.

Naruto walked back a little to the tree and sat down against it once more. He told his team to rotate, Eri against the boys. When he leant back against the tree, he felt cold hands cover his eyes.

"For someone wanting to become an ANBU, you have a strange way of surprising people."

"You're not people and you weren't surprised."

Naruto grinned. "You're late. I bet it's already been five."

"17:13," Sasuke corrected him.

"I was beginning to wonder if I could keep them here any longer."

"Hn."

Naruto swiped Sasuke's hands off his face and stood up. His vision had slowly gone from completely dark to a more grey with occasional moving black. Naruto turned into the direction where he heard his students and he could see the slight movement of black shadows.

"Oi, kiddo's, the surprise has just arrived."

"What?" Naruto heard Sasuke softly from behind as Sasuke's 'what' was over voiced by the 'what's' of his students. Kenji's 'what' had been the loudest. He ran up to Sasuke and stared at him before returning his formal posture. Sasuke looked so cool in his eyes with his dark blue pants and long white jacket, similar to what the Uchiha's father had once worn (not that Kenji knew that). On both upper arms stood an Uchiha symbol as well as on the front of the flaps of his jacket. Over his jacket he wore the green flak vest all jounin wore.

"This is, as you all probably know, Uchiha Sasuke. My teammate."

Kenji of course was first to reply, trying to be as cool as ever. "Uchiha Sasuke, it's a pleasure meeting you." Though he could not keep the grin from his face, he was standing face to face with his biggest hero after all.

Ryomaru and Eri hurried to Sasuke as well.

"Nice to meet you Uchiha-sama," they shimmed.

Naruto grinned as Sasuke politely returned their greetings after Naruto told him their names. "Kenji-kun over here is a big fan of yours."

Kenji suddenly looked shocked, like it was a secret (he had been bragging every now and then how great Sasuke was and how he would have liked him as his sensei. This of course made Naruto only laugh as he thought of Sasuke teaching Kenji and the others.) He even blushed a bit, which didn't go unnoticed by his team mates.

"I just… just-" he stammered, "You are the best ninja ever!" he threw out as he looked down to the ground. Sasuke probably was as speechless as Eri and Ryomaru, though for different reasons.

Naruto didn't need to see that Sasuke was slightly uncomfortable around these kids, especially with a fan amidst.

"Thanks, though I'm not sure that's true."

"Come on Sasuke, don't be shy now," Naruto teased. It was funny how Sasuke became all polite when he was praised by kids.

"Is it true, you were team mates?" Eri asked.

"Still are," Sasuke answered.

"Along with Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei."

"Really? Sakura-sensei is in your team?" Ryomaru asked a bit surprised.

"Hm," Naruto nodded.

"Kakashi-sama, the copy-ninja?" Eri asked.

"Yes," Sasuke answered.

"Wow, you must be the best team ever, with great teamwork and a lot of skills," Eri beamed.

"Things don't always go so smooth."

"Really? You have fights too?" Ryomaru asked as he eyed Kenji from the corner of his eyes.

"Ahahaha," Naruto laughed.

"When we were genins we fought almost all the time," Sasuke explained.

"Really?" Ryomaru asked once more.

"What can you expect when you are put in a team with this baka."

"Oi, teme."

"Dobe."

Kenji was just too astounded about meeting his hero; he couldn't even open his mouth to laugh at his sensei.

"You know what?" Naruto asked. All eyes turned to him. "Sasuke, these kids have been practicing their butts of today to improve their team work. Will you watch them perform the best teamwork possible?"

Kenji's eyes lit up, this was his chance to show Sasuke how good he was. He had to show him his teamwork was perfect. Eri and Ryomaru were rather thrilled as well, telling by their looks.

"Okay," Sasuke answered, though it hadn't been without a slight hesitation.

"By fighting them of course," Naruto finished his sentence. He smirked. Sasuke hadn't seen that one coming, neither his students apparently. Sasuke's face fell.

"No way!" Kenji finally had found his voice.

"Oh, please, Uchiha-sama," Eri pleaded as she saw Sasuke's face.

"He already agreed," Naruto said as he gave Sasuke a small push onto the field.

"All right," Sasuke's cool voice sounded in the air.

Kenji, Ryomaru and Eri hurriedly ran onto the field as well.

"Ready?" Naruto asked, "Start."

Immediately Kenji and Eri charged at Sasuke. Ryomaru followed after a slight hesitation as well. Eri pulled out her small twin katanas and sliced out to Sasuke; Kenji made a Kage Bunshin.

Kenji had been the only one until now to pull off the jutsu (Naruto had tried to teach them the jutsu as for his punishment), though he could only conjure up one clone with difficulty. His clone attacked Sasuke as his real self went a few steps back. Ryomaru halted between Kenji and Sasuke, beginning to throw kunai and shuriken to protect Kenji's body as he started to get ready for his mind-transfer jutsu.

As Ryomaru and Eri distracted Sasuke, for as much of an distraction they could form to Sasuke, Kenji's clone was dispersed and he saw his chance coming closer for his jutsu.

Sasuke had decided to just keep it to taijutsu to be on the safe side, only blocking the small katanas and shuriken with his own katana. He never pulled his katana fully out of the seethe, just a small part. He had to admit that they were working fine together, though he still saw chances enough to attack and ready for improvement. He wondered how he and Naruto had appeared to Kakashi when they were fighting him all those years ago.

Kenji finally saw his chance and took it. Unfortunately Sasuke had no intension to be hit by a mind transfer jutsu and he pushed Eri back and did some quick hand signs.

"Katon: Goukakyu no jutsu," he said as he blew a gigantic fireball towards Ryomaru and Kenji.

Kenji was almost too impressed by this to jump away, but luckily he regained enough consciousness to realize he had to jump.

"Wow, that was amazing!" Kenji said as he pulled himself up from the ground.

"Yeah and it was really big," Eri added. Ryomaru just nodded in agreement.

"Wow, Sasuke, can't believe you did that," Naruto said smiling.

Sasuke just 'hn-ed'.

"Well, I think that was enough for today," Naruto called.

"No, we can go on for a while more?" Eri asked.

Naruto turned to Sasuke, who didn't seem to enjoy that idea as he grunted softly. Naruto was considering him; should he let Sasuke do it or not? He guessed not; not if he wanted to survive the night.

"Sorry, perhaps some other time."

"Oh, okay." Eri sounded a bit disappointed.

"Well, see you all tomorrow; we will be going to the Hokage for a mission."

Eri and Ryomaru took off together after saying their abundant good-bye's to Sasuke.

Sasuke sighed when they had finally left and walked to Naruto to go home when he noticed someone still being there. Kenji stood very silently, fiddling with his jacket. Naruto had already seen this coming.

"Kenji-kun, is there something you would like to ask Sasuke?" he started, giving Kenji an opening. Sasuke looked down to Naruto, who had a grin on his face as he looked at nothing in front of him.

"Well, I-" Kenji looked up to Sasuke, "I would very much like to have your autograph, Uchiha-sama?" he said with a bow, holding a scroll in his hand.

Naruto grinned and poked Sasuke in his side. He wished he could have seen the look on his face, because Sasuke was really surprised by this.

"Come on, Sasuke, you would do that for your biggest fan, right?"

Sasuke grumbled some more towards Naruto, but nonetheless took the scroll and signed it. Both Sasuke and Kenji blushing and they finally departed after Kenji's hundreds of 'thank-you's.

As Sasuke and Naruto walked down the street to their home Sasuke was very silent. Naruto grabbed his hand and laced their fingers together under the guise of his blindness and needing direction, which he sort of did.

"What do you say about my students?"

"You still have enough to teach them."

"And?"

"And nothing."

Naruto pouted. "_And?_"

"They are all right, I guess."

Naruto grinned. "Exactly."

After a moment of silence they reached their house and Sasuke opened the door. Naruto stumbled over the threshold and Sasuke grabbed the back of his vest so he wouldn't fall.

When they walked into the living room, Naruto asked, "You didn't use the Sharingan against them, did you?"

"Of course not, why should I?"

"I guess they will be disappointed about that, but at least they had to meet you."

"Hn."

-x-

Sasuke had made dinner and they were now eating in the living room, sitting on the ground at the low table.

"Why did you do it?" Sasuke suddenly asked as he lowered his chopsticks.

"Do what?"

"Ask me to meet them and then fight them too." Not that Naruto had really asked, he had just pushed Sasuke into the situation.

"You proposed to stop by yourself, remember?"

"But I hadn't expected you to still be training them."

"Why? You didn't like it?" Naruto put down his empty bowl.

Sasuke didn't answer. He didn't know what to answer, because he wasn't sure yet if he had liked it. He shrugged.

"Is this about the autograph?"

"No," Sasuke answered. "Yes... I don't know." He turned toward Naruto as he put his empty bowl on the table too. "Why did you let them think I'm such a great ninja?"

Naruto smiled and closed his eyes as he tilted his head slightly. "Because you are and you deserved the praise. So don't freak out about it."

"I don't think I deserved it," Sasuke almost muttered.

"What? Sasuke," Naruto said as he made Sasuke face him as he grabbed his shoulders, he'd aimed for his face, but he'd come in contact with the shoulder first. "Don't think you don't. You're a very good ninja. You somehow still think people blame you for leaving the village. You long made up for that and proved everyone what you're worth. Those kids really think you are a hero _and you are_." Naruto grinned. "Especially for Kenji." He paused a moment. "Being the last Uchiha survivor may also have something to do with it. It's very mysterious." Naruto wagged his eyebrows and let Sasuke go.

Sasuke huffed. "They even called me Uchiha-_sama_."

"So what? They respect you. Just means they have better manners than I have." Naruto stuck out his tongue. As he leant back he added, "Perhaps you should go to the market more often and talk to people some more." He gave a foxy grin.

"Hn. Like you do all the time?"

"I see you're still hungry. You're taking the bait, you usually don't," Naruto teased.

Sasuke crossed his arms. "Then we can go to the market together in future."

"Sure." Naruto yawned. "I'm already tired and I did next to nothing today."

"Recovering also takes energy. How are your eyes anyway. Can you already see a bit?"

"Mostly shadows." Naruto leaned against Sasuke.

"Tomorrow will probably be better," Sasuke said as he grabbed a book he had been reading.

"I hope so," he yawned again. "Is it an interesting book?"

"Quite."

Probably not. "Read it." Naruto asked. He asked Sasuke more often to read and Sasuke not always complied but often he did. Naruto wasn't really sure why, but he knew he liked Sasuke reading and hearing his voice. The content of the books he read weren't always interesting to Naruto, but Sasuke's voice was. He had a wonderful reading voice. He knew exactly when to raise his voice or when to deepen it. Every time, even as boring as the story was, Sasuke captured him and took him somewhere far away. Naruto didn't need to understand the words he was saying, just the sound was enough.

"According to his believe of the shinobi never being able to understand emotions completely, we can assume-"

This time Naruto was again proven right; it was boring, but even so he still was nice and warm, snuggling into Sasuke and thus began to purr, listening to Sasuke's silk voice.

-x-

Apparently Naruto had fallen asleep as he was woken up by the doorbell ringing. He almost fell off the couch, but Sasuke grabbed him.

"Who could that be this late?"

"You just stay on the couch and get back to sleep. I will scare the visitor off."

"Yeah, you do that," Naruto muttered as sleep was already coming back.

Sasuke walked away to the door. Naruto, almost sleeping, heard a woman's voice. He couldn't concentrate on it, but it probably was Sakura, asking how he was.

-x-

When Naruto woke up for a second time that evening, Sasuke was lifting him up to carry him upstairs.

"I can walk myself," he mumbled.

"And I can carry you."

"Fine."

Sasuke carried him upstairs and put him down in the bathroom.

"Who was that woman, was that Sakura?" he took the toothbrush Sasuke offered him, before putting it in his mouth. Then he added, "It doesn't matter anyway; you brushed her off."

Sasuke didn't respond; he just kept brushing his teeth.

Naruto wasn't really aware of what he did next; it was all automatic pilot work, brushing his teeth, undressing. He let himself fall onto the bed, face first and rolled himself into the blanket as Sasuke stared at him.

"Am I allowed to get in the bed as well, or..." He watched how Naruto kept rolling and shifting around.

"You can try," Naruto said sleepily and groped for Sasuke way off to his left.

Sasuke grabbed Naruto's arm and pulled it to him, effectively pulling Naruto half out of the heap of blankets.

"Hmm," Naruto groaned sleepily and Sasuke smiled. Naruto was half hanging, half under the blankets. "Sa'ke~" Naruto groaned.

Sasuke pulled him up further, heaving him to his chest and hooking his arms under Naruto's armpits. Naruto just hung limply, not feeling like moving at all and nuzzled in Sasuke's shirt.

"This feels surprisingly comfy," Naruto mumbled and slowly swept his tail out of content.

"Hnn," Sasuke sighed with a smile on his face. Naruto twitched his ears as Sasuke's breath came in contact with them.

"Hmm," Naruto hummed back.

Sasuke stayed like this for a moment longer until... _Was Naruto snoring softly? He had already fallen asleep._ Sasuke shook his head and heaved Naruto back onto the bed, under the blankets. He lay down next to Naruto and sighed.

-x-

_Naruto was running, running away from something, but he didn't know from what. All he knew was that he had to keep running. People were calling him, but he couldn't understand them._

_Around him everything was red, dark red or another shade of dark. Shadows moved around and walls seemed to be closing him in._

_He ran around a corner and a small shadow came closer. This was bad, he just knew. Naruto turned around and ran in the opposite direction. People were still calling, mumbling. He couldn't understand; were they calling for him or warning him?_

_Suddenly a young voice sounded through the rest, much clearer and easier to understand._

"_I'm him, he is me."_

"_What?" Naruto asked as the small shadow approached him once more from the front._

"_We are identical."_

_Naruto took a step back as sharp teeth glimmered from the shadow's face._

"_Can't you see, we are one!" Red eyes gleamed, they seemed to have slits for pupil._

_No, he had to get away. Naruto ran once more around a corner and was overshadowed by hundreds and thousands of people, mumbling, calling._

"_We are one," the young voice said, but Naruto couldn't see it._

"_Stoooop!"_

Naruto sat up straight. _That had been a weird dream._ He looked around.

His eyes still couldn't see in the dark, or was it already light? Either way he couldn't see much.

Naruto groped for Sasuke but instead found a bed. _Had he fallen out of the bed? That hadn't happened since a long, long time ago._

Naruto felt the bed and went to sit on top. The sheets were neatly folded and smelled different. He touched the bed to not find Sasuke but instead reached a wall.

"Huh?" He touched the wall some more until he found a small painting. He recognized it after feeling it and knew where he was. He was in the guestroom. Deciding he had probably done some sleepwalking he went straight back to his own bed, where Sasuke was, walking against a small cabinet in the process.

With a painful toe Naruto climbed onto the bed, pulled the sheets over himself and hugged Sasuke. Sleep had already overtaken him before he could tighten his grip around Sasuke's stomach.

-oXo-


	5. Chapter 5: Meetings Part II

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sensei.

Lemony-ish part right at the beginning of the chapter. (If you don't want to read it, just read from the first small time skip)

-x- _Small time skip_

_-o-o-o- __Change of person POV_

-oXo-

**Chapter 5: Meetings Part 2**

_27th of April_

As Sasuke woke up, it was because he was cold. He was lying under the covers, yes, but he was still shivering slightly. He looked down and noticed something missing. Almost every morning Sasuke would wake up with Naruto lying on his chest, however, this morning Naruto lay peacefully on his stomach on the bed.

_Then there is just one other way_, Sasuke thought. He rolled over onto his stomach and moved over to Naruto to lie on his back. Naruto groaned at the heavier weight of the man that slid on top of him.

"You're heavy," he told him as he tried to look at him from a sideway glance, but only seeing a blur.

"Everyone is heavy when you compare them to you."

"True," came the muffled reply as Naruto had moved his head back into his pillow.

After a while Sasuke began moving his hips, grinding Naruto's ass and nibbled on his ear.

"Is there something you would like to say, Sasuke?"

"Not really," Sasuke said and continued licking Naruto's jaw, which made Naruto purr and close his eyes in pleasure.

"Hmm." After a while the blond opened one eye and couldn't help but ask. "You sure nothing is wrong?"

"No," came the curt reply and Naruto couldn't help but give a slight involuntary shock as Sasuke suddenly pushed his hands under his stomach into his boxers.

Naruto thought he knew what was going on. Ever since the first time they had sex, Sasuke had never taken Naruto from behind. This was because Naruto had asked him not to; he already felt enough like an animal as it was and he thought his tail might be a little annoying (though he wasn't sure if that was just an excuse he told Sasuke).

"You can, if you want to," Naruto suddenly said after a rather load moan.

"You sure?" This confirmed Naruto had been right.

"Yes," Naruto was barely able to reply as Sasuke did some nice things below him. He had completely accepted the way he looked like some time ago. He knew this was a nice time to give Sasuke something he wanted, especially since he had never asked for it until today (and even now he hadn't really asked).

-Lemon-

Sasuke pulled his hands back from underneath Naruto and pulled them both up so they were on their arms and knees. Sasuke fitted nicely around Naruto as he was taller and started kissing Naruto's back while pulling down their boxers. After that he didn't do anything else than let his hands roam over Naruto's body and kissing him.

"Sasuke~," Naruto whined. Why was he taking so long?

Sasuke sniggered in his ear. "Impatient?"

Naruto groaned, but decided not to respond. Finally Sasuke moved backwards over to the nightstand and then started preparing him. Naruto made some interesting noises as Sasuke grazed his prostate with his fingers and almost wanted to whine again, but stopped himself just in time.

Sasuke finally was ready and positioned himself behind Naruto, grabbing his tail, to move it out of his face as Naruto kept swirling it around. Naruto understood the meaning of it and tried to keep his tail still as Sasuke slowly pushed himself forward. Sounds of pleasure came from both of their mouths and in Naruto's case also somewhere lower as his purring hitched.

Sasuke slowly pulled back and forth and gradually fastened the pace. Naruto curled his tail around Sasuke's waist as he bent forward over Naruto again, his hand slowly moving from his waist to the front.

Naruto thought he was right about thinking this wasn't his favourite position, but it was certainly not as bad as he had initially thought. Sasuke hit his prostate a few times and sparks went up his spine. No, this certainly wasn't that bad and soon he reached his high. Shortly Sasuke followed him and they collapsed on top of each other.

"Not... that... bad, right?" Sasuke asked between gasps as they lay panting. Naruto smirked.

-x-

Naruto yawned as he sat eating behind the kitchen table. Sasuke had made him some toast with jam. Naruto eyed his half eaten toast. He could differentiate the red jam from the rest of the table, but it had no real shape; everything was still very blurry. He sighed.

Sasuke looked up from the newspaper to Naruto. "You don't like it?"

Naruto looked up as well. He saw a very blurry shape that was mostly black and white and only because it moved he noticed it between the other formless shapes.

"No, it's fine." His right ear twitched.

Sasuke looked back at the paper as Naruto took another bite from his toast. Naruto had the feeling he had forgotten something, but he didn't knew what it could have been. It was frustrating.

Sasuke laid down the newspaper and Naruto put his empty cup down. They cleared the table (Naruto almost knocked over the teapot and really knocked over some other invaluable things as he tried to help clean up) and went outside (after Naruto falling flat on his face as he tripped over his own sandals at which Naruto could have sworn he'd heard Sasuke snigger).

"I'll see you in the afternoon," Sasuke told Naruto.

"What are you going to do?" Naruto asked while rubbing his still sore nose.

"I promised Kakashi to meet him on the training ground."

"Okay. See you." And they each walked in a different direction. Naruto to training ground 4, Sasuke to training ground 3.

"Ohayo, students, ready for a nice D-rank mission?" Naruto greeted as he walked onto the field and looked around. "Where's Kenji?"

"Not here yet," Eri answered.

"Ah, sensei, while Kenji is not here yet…" Ryomaru asked shyly.

"Hm?"

"Could I give you a check-up?" Naruto frowned a bit. "On your eyes of course," he added, "as practice."

"Sure."

Naruto sat down on his knees as Ryomaru held out a small light and shone it into his eyes. His face was in serious-mode as Eri called it. Eri just looked at what Ryomaru was doing.

"Can you see how many fingers I'm showing?"

"Not really, but I can see you; or at least something," Naruto answered. Ryomaru nodded and grabbed a small flashlight.

After finishing his small check-up, which hadn't even taken five minutes, he said softly, "I think you have regained about 25% of your vision."

"That sounds great," Naruto grinned.

"That's way faster than was explained in the textbook however. It said it could take three to four weeks to fully recover from this."

"Well, I'm a fast healer."

Kenji chose that moment to arrive.

"Ready to get your mission?"

"Hai," Eri and Ryomaru echoed.

"Yeah," Kenji followed.

"When do we get descent missions, sensei?" Kenji asked while they were walking to Tsunade's office.

"When you are ready," Naruto glanced sideways to him, "and you're not yet," he added.

Kenji grumbled and Eri giggled. "It means that we as a team are not ready, not necessarily me," Kenji snapped at Eri. Eri didn't respond other than continuing her giggles.

Team 9 entered the building and climbed its many stairs. Before Naruto could just burst in, Ryomaru politely knocked and waited for the reply as he glanced to his sensei's rude behaviour. Naruto grinned.

"Ah, Naruto," Tsunade greeted.

"Ohayo, baa-chan."

"Hokage-sama," three voices muttered, Ryomaru once again glanced to Naruto, who pretended not to notice.

"Do you have a mission for us?" Naruto asked the Hokage.

Tsunade fumbled through some papers as Shizune entered the room with another heap of papers balancing dangerously on her arms. Ryomaru closed the door for her and he received an 'arigatou'. Finally Tsunade found the right paper with their D-rank mission and handed it to Naruto while flinching as Shizune let the papers fall on her desk.

"Heh, seems you have a lot of work to do... _Hokage-sama_." He added as Ryomaru was dangerously staring at him, he could actually feel it.

"Hn." Tsunade had not noticed it as she was fingering through the new papers. She looked up again. "How are your eyes, gaki?"

"Ah, my medic genin over here already did a check-up on me." Naruto laid a hand on Ryomaru's shoulder.

"Yes, he-his vision h-has already returned for t-twenty-five p-percent," he silently mumbled, back to his shy self as he spoke to the Hokage.

"Good work, Ryomaru-kun."

Ryomaru immediately turned lobster red and stared at his shoes. She knew his name! He was overjoyed; most people did not remember Ryomaru. As the silent, shy boy he was, he was overlooked a lot. Especially at home with his four older sisters, who were very loud to say the least. Naruto gave a soft pinch in his shoulder before he let it go.

"Well, we'll be seeing you again, soon," Naruto said as he turned around, walking to the door.

"Goodbye, Hokage-sama," Eri said as she followed Naruto.

Ryomaru's greeting was so soft that Naruto didn't think anybody but he had heard it.

As soon as the door closed Kenji asked, "What's the mission?"

Naruto gave him the paper. Kenji read it, gave a grunt and handed the paper to Eri, who had wanted to read over his shoulder, but had been blocked by him. Kenji walked ahead as Eri read their mission. She mumbled the words she read and when she finished she clicked her tongue.

"We have to catch Tenado-san's-"

"-dog, named Gori," Naruto finished her sentence.

"How did you know sensei? You still cannot read," Ryomaru asked. Eri looked just as stunned.

"Ah, that's a secret," Naruto said mysteriously, sweeping his tail out of joy.

"He can't read minds, can he?" Eri suddenly asked Ryomaru a bit uncomfortable as she looked at his ears like they were antennae.

-x-

Later that afternoon Naruto and his team of students had finished a new record of 12 D-rank missions in a single day and were walking away from their last mission. Naruto walked through the street with his 35%-vision according to Ryomaru, who had insisted on re-checking Naruto's eyes as he had finished another sentence from Eri about their mission. It was very funny how they did not notice that Eri mumbled the words she read, not-understandable for normal people, but loud and clear for Naruto.

As they were about to pass the Ichiraku ramen bar, Naruto suddenly spun to his left and put the short curtain away. "Hey, Kakashi-sensei, already here? That's just not normal."

"Maa, maa, Naruto, Sakura's here as well."

"I know, but still, you're so early. I can't believe it," he shook his head. "Anko must have some influence in that," he added whispering.

"Sakura-sensei," a voice suddenly chimed.

"Ah, Ryomaru-kun, how are you?"

"F-fine," he stuttered, turning red and biting his lower lip.

Eri came to stand beside him. "So this is your famous medical-sensei?" She reached out a hand to Sakura, "Nice to meet you; you have beautiful hair."

"Thank you," Sakura said as she let a lock of hair slip through her fingers and gave the other hand to Eri, "You must be Eri-chan."

"Ryomaru talked about me?" she asked surprised, she didn't think Ryomaru talked a lot to anyone.

"I think he mentioned you a few times, but it was mostly because of Naruto. He talks about you guys all the time."

"Really?"

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto sounded threateningly, afraid to lose his 'image' to his students. Eri giggled. Kenji decided to come closer as well.

"And then you must be Kenji-kun." Sakura held out her hand.

"You got some fine genin there, Naruto."

"I know, Kakashi-sensei."

'Nice-to-meet-you's were again exchanged, combined with some wide eyes.

"Wow, we get to meet almost every best shinobi of Konoha in just two days!" Eri yelled as she made a small dance of joy. "Sensei, you have the best team ever!" A big smile was plastered on her face.

"Haha," team Kakashi laughed.

"True," said Naruto. "But the best is yet to come." He smiled.

"Naruto! No playing favourites inside the team," Kakashi said in fake shock.

"Sasuke-kun had to do a small mission for Tsunade shishou, so he'll be a bit later."

Naruto pouted and sat down on a stool. "You want some bite of the best food in the world?" he asked his team.

"I would love too!" Eri said enthusiastically as she squeezed herself in between Sakura and Kakashi with a huge smile plastered on her face. Naruto wondered if it could ever come off again. Sakura moved up one chair, so she could sit in between. Ryomaru muttered a 'thank you' and safely sat beside Sakura at her left side at the end of the bar. Kenji had apparently some decisions to make, but finally the possibility of eating with the Uchiha around was enough for him to come and sit at the right end of the bar, leaving one seat between him and Naruto.

"Good!" Naruto said as he wagged his tail, ready to decide what he wanted to eat this time.

Ryomaru and Sakura were chatting about medical school and Eri was happily staring at Kakashi in anticipation of him talking to her. Naruto heard Kakashi was smiling behind his mask as he glanced sideways to Naruto. Kenji was just staring in front of him, looking at Teuchi and his daughter work.

"Ah, Sasuke," Naruto suddenly said. Kenji had turned around so fast he almost fell off of his stool, but was disappointed to see no one. Thinking his sensei had pulled a joke on him (as he did more often) he looked up angrily to Naruto.

Sakura leaned back, pushing the curtain a little aside and saw Sasuke come walking towards them. He was scowling a bit and almost walked over a young woman, with long black hair. Sasuke looked at the woman and his facial expression changed. The woman said something to him, grabbing his arm, but he shook her off and walked further. The woman turned around, looking after Sasuke. She was rather pale.

Her hair brushed again as she turned around and she walked away. Sasuke came really close now and as Sakura sat up straight again she suddenly noticed someone was animatedly talking to her.

"-just like my aunt, she has-" but Eri was cut off by Naruto.

"Took you long enough." Naruto was talking to the bar and Eri's eyebrows went up. Kenji didn't even bother to look around anymore.

Sasuke put the curtain aside and noticed the crowded bar and the last empty seat between Naruto and Kenji. He sighed and soundlessly sat between them without saying a word. Kenji was overjoyed-but-too-shocked-to-say-anything again. Kakashi grinned as he saw this and Naruto grinned back.

"Can I get your orders?" Ayame asked politely. Naruto was first to order, naturally, and soon the rest followed.

While waiting for their food to be prepared, Kenji had finally found his voice again. "How was your day, Uchiha-sama?" he asked rather out of character. He had never asked anyone from team 9 about their day. Luckily for Kenji, Eri was again talking to Sakura and Ryomaru was listening to them, so they didn't notice. Naruto however had his eyebrows disappear behind his hitai-ate.

Sasuke grunted softly and looked sideways to Kenji. "Fine." Sasuke then turned towards Naruto and gave him a pleading look, but all he got was a foxy grin. "Hn."

Naruto hadn't even been able to see the look on Sasuke's face anyway, but it wasn't hard to guess.

"You know, Sasuke, you and Kenji have a few things in common." Kenji froze at Naruto's sentence as did Sasuke, but for different reasons. Why was Naruto doing this? Why did he like to play around with Sasuke like this? Again he grumbled a bit, taking the bait.

"Really?" Sasuke asked through clenched teeth.

"Yeah, you both dislike humour."

"Really?" Sasuke asked once again, but this time more mockingly. Kenji was speechless; he really didn't know what to say to this.

"It's hard to get Kenji to laugh or crack a joke," Naruto went on, still grinning, "Must be in the blood type."

Kenji came back to live once more. "You have blood type AB as well?" he asked overjoyed.

Sasuke didn't answer.

"Isn't that great?" Naruto asked with overly fake joy as he put his arm around Sasuke's shoulder.

"I'm going to kill you later," Sasuke whispered to him. Naruto just kept on grinning.

"One kitsune udon and a miso ramen."

"Ramen," Naruto said happily as Ayame gave him his miso ramen.

Soon everyone was happily slurping.

"Hmm, this tastes so good," Eri said between two mouthfuls of ramen.

"It's the best!" Naruto answered and Teuchi smiled.

"Naruto used to try to get us to eat here every day." Sakura looked at Eri and bowed to her. "Luckily he has now finally come to realize vegetables are a necessary nutrition too, though it took him nearly twenty years to figure that one out." Naruto stuck out his tongue to her.

As his attention was back to his ramen Sakura added softly, "He was quite bothersome and annoying back then. He can still be though." Eri giggled.

"You know I can hear that?"

Eri stopped giggling, but Sakura grinned. "Oh, I know."

"I don't like the way you just said that."

"You know she is just toying with you again."

Naruto glanced to his right, more for the idea.

Sasuke had just finished eating and laid his chopsticks down neatly. Kenji was observing his every move, like he expected him to go all Sharingan at a sudden; or more precisely he was hoping so.

A little bit later, everyone finished eating and the sun was slowly turning orange.

"I think I should go to the hospital to say goodnight to oba-chan before visiting hours are over." Eri stood up from her chair.

"I'll go home too, we can walk together," Ryomaru said as he went to stand next to her, both looking over to Kenji. Kenji didn't say a thing.

"Shouldn't you come too, Kenji?" Eri asked a bit motherly. Kenji turned to her and grumbled a bit. Not saying anything he stood up as well.

"Thank you for the meal, sensei," Ryomaru said politely.

"Thank you, you should do this more often."

Naruto laughed. "I don't think a certain someone will appreciate that." He glanced discretely to a still grumpy Sasuke.

The eyebrows of his team went up. Eri eyed him suspiciously.

"Well, have a nice evening."

"Bye sensei, Sakura-san, Uchiha-san, Hatake-san!" Eri waved as did Ryomaru and they all turned to walk away.

A few blocks further Eri finally found it save enough to ask the question she was burning to ask. "Does sensei have a girlfriend?"

"Don't know, but he did say 'certain someone'," Ryomaru said.

"Hm, hm," Eri nodded as she agreed.

"Baka," Kenji muttered and he turned right while the rest went on in a straight direction.

"Says the boy who went all 'I'm your biggest fan Uchiha-sama' when-" Eri called after him.

"Shut up," Kenji said as he turned away, a bit red in the face.

"See you," Eri yelled, but as expected she didn't get an answer. Eri and Ryomaru sniggered.

-o-o-o-

Back in the Ichiraku ramen bar team Kakashi was continuing their conversation while drinking some tea.

"So, who was that woman you almost ran over a while ago?" Naruto asked Sasuke.

"The one with the long black hair; she looked kind of ill, don't you think?"

"Just someone I met long ago."

"When you were with Orochimaru?"

"Just drop it, it's not important." Sasuke never really liked talking about his time with Orochimaru and he obviously was still grumpy about sitting next to Kenji, Naruto thought.

"Or from your jail-period?" Sakura wagged her eyebrows. "I saw some lovely ladies walking around there. You were allowed to walk freely between them, ne?"

Sasuke gave her a filthy glare.

"That was before you started liking Naruto, so you weren't really into guys back then, were you?"

Naruto spit out his tea as he laughed. "Sakura-chan, don't give me these images."

Sakura laughed as well. "You're seeing Sasuke-kun walking in that long corridor with men reaching for him as well?"

"NO!" Naruto clapped his hands over his ears in shock. "What are you saying?" Now he couldn't lose this awful image Sakura had put in his head.

Now Kakashi was laughing as well. "Didn't know you had fantasies like that? Or should I say, _still_ have fantasies like that?" he asked Sakura.

"Gak." Sakura blushed slightly. "No, I have different fantasies, I was just imagining that."

"Sure."

Sasuke just sat still, staring grumpily in front of him.

"Perhaps he just met her on the spot and she fell immediately for his charming personality?" Kakashi went on with teasing Sasuke.

"Yeah, Sasuke-kun has the most handsome face when he is scowling."

"So you think so as well?" Naruto asked, grinning.

"What if he met her not that long ago in the forest?"

"Hé!" Naruto said offended. "Now you're going too far."

"Sorry," though Sakura didn't sounded sorry at all, just amused.

Naruto grabbed Sasuke's arm and hugged it. "I'm sorry Sasuke, we were just teasing."

Sasuke's expression, having gone from grumpy to almost red with fury, gave Naruto a furious look. Naruto felt the heat radiating off it and let Sasuke go. "Sorry, will not touch you again," he mumbled softly, his eyes closed to form an uncomfortable expression.

Sasuke growled and looked back to his own tea. Sakura giggled behind her hand. Naruto slurped from his tea and he decided he would make it up to Sasuke later. He would make sure he couldn't stay mad all evening. Naruto grinned.

"Is the sex a bit slow again?" Sakura suddenly asked Sasuke.

Naruto almost choked on his tea and spat it out. "Sakura-chan!" Naruto whined as he turned slightly red. After all these years she still did that and he still reacted this way.

"Naruto, why do you even respond to it?" Sasuke asked seriously, looking quite cooled down suddenly. He could change into his normal posture so quickly.

"I can't help it."

"Well, I asked something," Sakura said with fake impatience. Kakashi just watched amusingly.

"We're fine," Sasuke answered timidly, Naruto's mouth fell slightly open as he turned to Sasuke; he almost thought he would go and tell her about their nice morning.

"Now that we're on that topic; how are you and Sai doing? You must have reached _that_ stage by now?" Sasuke asked as he turned to look Sakura in the face. Sakura turned bright red and her mouth hung slightly open.

"What, you're already together?" Kakashi asked surprised.

"You and Sai? I thought he was an emotionless, bastard who knows nothing than what he reads from those-" Naruto started.

"How did you know, we're not even dating for a month yet? We were very discreet about it," Sakura asked Sasuke, ignoring the other two.

"I had my suspicions for a while, though I wasn't completely sure; but you just confirmed it."

Sakura could just hit herself on the head. "I- we..." She turned away. "You sneaky, little bastard."

Sasuke grinned. "So, you're in _that_ stage now?" Sasuke asked again. Kakashi looking interested to her as well.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked all red. Sasuke just kept staring at her. It was payback time.

"What do you mean?" she asked again.

"I thought so," he said and sat up straight again, grabbing his tea.

Sakura started shaking out of annoyance of Sasuke's unfinished words. She couldn't take this casual way of acting as he was saying that.

He sat there just sipping his tea, Naruto and Kakashi curiously looking at her and he just pretended to know. Like he knew everything. Like he knew her. She would show him he didn't know everything!

"We're not having sex yet if that's what you meant." Suddenly she realized what she had admitted and that that had probably been Sasuke's intension, just to see her reactions afterwards. She was proven right as a simple, but all saying smirk spread over his face when he turned his head to her.

Sakura grabbed the tabletop of the bar so tightly it would sure leave dents.

"All I meant was the third date," Sasuke said with that calm, smooth voice of his. This only made things worse for Sakura. He was rubbing it in on purpose.

"I hate you," she bit out to him.

Sasuke just kept the smirk on his face as he turned away from the bright red, shaking with anger Sakura. He'd gotten his revenge.

-x-

Sasuke and Naruto entered their bedroom, arguing.

"You _really_ need a haircut, Naruto," Sasuke said as he pulled his hand through Naruto's rather long blond locks. As an answer Naruto pushed Sasuke on the bed.

"Enough about my hair." He pulled off his vest and orange-with-black-sides sweater. "Sorry that I made you sit next to Kenji."

"But it was just too much fun? So I noticed."

"I'll make it up to you." Naruto leaned over Sasuke who turned his head aside.

"You don't want to?" Naruto liked his cheek.

"I'm tired." Sasuke turned his whole body onto his side now. Naruto almost fell off the bed.

"Are you that mad, just for the kid sitting next to you?" Naruto asked, seriously wondering if it bothered Sasuke this much. He sat down on the bed next to Sasuke, staring at his back.

"I'm just tired and I want to sleep."

"Okay," Naruto finally said very slowly. "This morning you were in a completely different mood. Mostly you are the guy that starts this..." Naruto lay back on the other side of the bed. "Oyasumi." He didn't get an answer.

-oXo-


	6. Chapter 6: Shocking news

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sensei.

Ah, thank you all for your reviews, they make me happy :) And when I'm happy I feel like writing for this fic ^^ even though that this is a short chapter.

-oXo-

**Chapter 6: Shocking news**

_29__th__ of April _

Team Kakashi was training on their usual training ground. Naruto had given team 9 a day off for their studies and other homework they might have. Apparently Sakura was a stern teacher when it came to home work, from what Ryomaru had told him.

Sasuke had come around a bit, but was still more silent than usual. Naruto expected Sasuke would tell him what was bothering him that evening. When Sasuke was like this after a mission that hadn't gone quite as expected, he would always tell what was bothering him after a day of training. Naruto thought this would be the same, so he trained and worked hard to make Sasuke as exhausted as he could get.

Naruto snickered at these thoughts. He saw Kakashi coming to him with a kunai ready and Naruto ducked away.

"Sasuke, cover me, I want to try something."

Sasuke did so as he curiously (though he didn't show any sign of being curious of course) glanced at Naruto. Naruto stretched out his right hand and began forming chakra in it.

Sakura was able to bypass Sasuke and looked as Naruto stood with an out stretched hand with orange chakra that was roughly forming into a ball. _Is he making a Rasengan with one hand?_

Before he could make it a reality she pulled up her leg. Naruto suddenly looked up a bit surprised when Sakura kicked him in his midriff. The chakra of his Rasengan flew all around when he was pushed away.

Naruto came to a stop against the middle one of the wooden posts, he breathed out and grabbed his midriff as pain shot through it. Sakura had been very serious about this training session he'd noticed.

"Nice swing, Sakura."

Naruto didn't even bother to look around at the person that had come onto the training ground and just growled a bit as he stayed sitting in pain.

Anko hunched down next to him, her light brown eyes looking him over, a small smile on her face. "It hurts when a lady gets violent, doesn't it." Naruto stared at her as she stared back at him. "What did you do to her, did you make her angry?"

"No, we're just training." Finally he was able to breathe without a stitch and sat up, leaning to Anko.

"If you want to see Kakashi win, you have come at the wrong training session."

"I can see." She looked Naruto over.

"I was distracted."

"Stupid."

Naruto growled; his ears lay flat.

"Growling won't help against a snake, it will just hiss back or even bite," she stuck out her tongue.

Naruto huffed. "Wanna find out?"

"I believe in the story about the fox and the snake they both died." Kakashi turned to Anko. "Anko, what are you doing here?"

"Just checking you out."

"Ew," Naruto pulled up his nose and Anko turned to him.

"Not like that," she turned her head back to Kakashi. "Though that's not such a bad idea." She grinned as she looked Kakashi over.

Kakashi brought a hand to his face and Naruto shivered.

"Ow, come on Naruto, like you never do those kind of things with Sasuke when we are training." Sakura stepped into the conversation.

"No!" he said a bit too quick, not making it sound very convincing. Sasuke grinned.

"Well, all I came here for was to say that I'm going on a mission and that your fridge is empty."

...

They stared at Anko as silence fell.

"Then you fill it up."

"Can't, have to go immediately. Just wanted to let you know you should buy some food before you head home." She turned away.

"Really? That's all?" Naruto asked.

Anko stopped. "What else did you expect?" she grinned evilly.

"Nothing." He glared at her with a pout on his face.

Anko laughed. "Bye, and Kakashi, kick that brat's butt for me."

Naruto growled again, "That-that... she-".

"What got you all turned on?" Kakashi asked Naruto with a raised eyebrow. Sakura seemed just as interested to know.

"Nothing much." He turned his head to his right. They hadn't heard her comments from earlier.

"Really? Naruto, you don't hate her, do you?" Sakura asked, but Naruto stayed staring to his right.

"There's that woman again. You sure there's nothing about her, Sasuke?"

The rest turned to look as well and the woman with the long black hair from the day before came walking to them.

"Come on, we were training," Sasuke turned away and walked back to the crater Sakura had made some time earlier.

"Eh, Sasuke-kun, you sure you don't want to talk to her? She seems kind of desperate to-"

"No," came the very curt and slightly angry reply.

"Sasuke-san!" the woman called from a distance as she saw Sasuke walk away. "Please wait, I _need_ to talk to you." She began walking faster as Sasuke became more distant.

"Wait a second?" Naruto put his hand on his chin. "I heard that voice before... but when?"

"The day before yesterday," Sakura answered monotonously.

"No, I mean yes, but also before that."

The woman had reached them. She looked indeed very pale and she had bags under her eyes. When she stopped she coughed first.

Naruto thought that she had probably once been a very beautiful woman with her long, elegant brownish black hair. She had ocean green eyes and in her ears she wore earrings in the shape of small apples.

Although right now she didn't look very healthy at all, you could still see that she had a lovely face, which was now very pale with bags under her eyes. She looked a bit spooky though with her long black hair framing her face as it seemed like she hadn't combed it.

"Please, you have to let me talk to him, it's important," she asked as she turned to Sakura.

"Why don't you sit down first, I will give you a check-over, you do-"

"Not necessary. Thank you." She coughed again.

"Sasuke come over here!" Sakura yelled. Naruto flattened his ears at the sound.

Sasuke just stood there on the field, watching them, standing perfectly still, arms crossed. "I don't need to talk to her." He called back.

"Do you know each other?" Naruto asked as Sakura began calling Sasuke again, this time less politely.

"Yes, we do; from quite a while ago."

"Aha." Naruto didn't really know what to say to her.

"Are you...?" she started to ask, but apparently changed her mind and fell silent.

"SASUKE! DO I NEED TO DRAG YOU OVER HERE?" Sakura screamed.

"Ah, Sakura-chan, please, I'm getting deaf over here. Can you at least be a bit sof-" Naruto started, but his voice died down as he saw Sakura walk away over to Sasuke.

"Okay~. Thanks?" Naruto said. He turned back to the woman.

"I'm sorry for my students," Kakashi apologized. "My name is Hatake Kakashi, this here is Uzumaki Naruto, that (unusual, as it most of the times it's Naruto) loudmouth is Haruno Sakura and you already know Sasuke, I see."

She nodded. "Nice to meet you, Hatake-san." She shook Kakashi's hand. "My name is Akiharu."

Finally Sakura came back with Sasuke being pulled with her. She pushed him forward so he stood face to face with Akiharu, towering above her.

"Hello Sasuke-san," she said as she looked up, "We really need to talk."

"I have nothing to say to you." He turned his head away.

"But I _do _need to talk to you." She sounded desperate now and she grabbed his arm. "Please, please listen to me." Tears were falling down her face and Sasuke looked back at her, he sighed.

"Fine, let's go over there." He walked away and Akiharu wiped her tears and followed him, coughing.

"What was all that about?" Sakura asked. Naruto shrugged.

Sasuke and Akiharu stopped near the edge of the forest. Sasuke looked over to Naruto once and then put up his right hand in half a tiger-sign.

"Damn," Naruto growled. "He put up a barrier. I can't hear them and I can't really see them either from this distance," he said as he squinted his eyes.

"Ah, so your eye sight hasn't fully returned yet?" Sakura asked. Naruto shook his head.

Akiharu began talking and Sasuke was turning away from her, towards his team. Suddenly he stopped and became very pale. He turned back to her and she began talking again. Her hair hung in front of her face and Sasuke had his back to them, so they couldn't tell what they were talking about. This took about ten minutes before they both just seemed to be staring at each other. Finally Akiharu wiped her hair behind her ear.

"I'm sorry?" Sakura said.

"For what?" Naruto asked.

"No, I think she just said 'I'm sorry'."

"Oh." Naruto looked to Kakashi.

"Can't you... you know read their lips?"

Kakashi looked sternly at him.

"I guess that would be an intrusion of privacy..." Naruto slowly said, turning away from Kakashi to Sakura again.

"What's happening now?"

"Nothing, they are just standing there."

Suddenly Naruto heard Sasuke break the barrier and he came walking back. Akiharu slowly followed him, looking at the ground. When Sasuke reached his team, Naruto asked "Sasuke? Are you-", but he just strode past them and said nothing.

"Don't you want them to know?"

"Shut up!" Sasuke said very angrily and he vanished.

Akiharu seemed on the brim of crying again.

"Please let me check you over-" Sakura began again.

"No thank you, that won't be necessary. You can't do anything about it anyway." She gave a small smile.

"You are very ill?"

"Yes, I might not live very long. If you excuse me, I have to go somewhere." She walked away.

They stared at each other. "I guess training is over then," Sakura said.

"Better get my fridge full again." Kakashi started walking away. "And tell me when you have talked to Sasuke," he said to Naruto.

"I will."

"Good luck," Sakura told him.

-x-

Naruto had looked for Sasuke for over half a day and hadn't found him and had eventually returned home. He was making dinner when Sasuke came in.

"Sasuke?"

He didn't get an answer.

Naruto grabbed two bowls of food and took them into the living room where Sasuke sat on the couch, his head in his hands. Naruto sat down on the couch next to him and put Sasuke's bowl in front of him. After a while Sasuke grabbed the bowl and began eating. Naruto purposely didn't say anything and they ate in silence.

When Sasuke put his empty bowl down and leant back into the couch again, Naruto couldn't restrain himself any longer.

"You want to talk about it?"

"She told me-" Sasuke inhaled. Naruto patiently waited, though that was very hard for him. He was very curious, to say the least.

Sasuke bent forward and put his head in his hands again. "She told me I have a son," he said very quietly.

Silence fell.

"Huh? What?" This was absolutely _not_ what Naruto had expected. "How? I mean, I know how, but... when? _How_?"

Sasuke stayed silent.

"You believe her? You mean she and you-?"

"Yes, we met when I was still with Orochimaru. I was 16 at the time."

Naruto leaned forward. "And then you-?"

"Stop fishing Naruto."

Naruto sat up straight immediately.

Sasuke sighed again. "She said she came to find me because she is dying and she herself has no family. So she wanted to give her son... the boy to me so I could take care of him when she died."

Naruto's mind was spinning. No wonder Sasuke had reacted the way he had. "You've seen him?"

"No, I've been walking in the forest all day."

"Aah," that explained why he hadn't been able to find Sasuke.

Sasuke stood up. "I'm going for a shower and then to bed. Don't expect me to say anything else." He left the room.

Naruto didn't know what to do. He had said he would tell Kakashi, but something like this? He couldn't tell Kakashi this... it wasn't his... _Sasuke had a son?_ And he believed this woman, this Akiharu, when she had told him? She was probably just trying to get his attention, right? She was lying, how could they have a son? Naruto didn't know what to think anymore. This couldn't be true, right? Did this mean Sasuke and that woman had...?

Naruto couldn't bring himself to think about that. He'd always thought that Sasuke had only always been with him and he'd been the first to have shared a bed with him.

Naruto grabbed his hair while all these thoughts went through his head.

"Aargh!"

He lay down on the couch and watched the ceiling as he heard Sasuke turn off the shower.

More thoughts kept swirling through his mind, but eventually he fell asleep on the couch.

-oXo-

Next: … explanations? … *evil grin*

A/N: And some of you thought Sasuke was cheating on Naruto... He would never do that; shame on you :P


	7. Chapter 7: Hellos and Goodbyes

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sensei.

-oXo-

**Chapter 7: Hellos and Goodbyes**

_30__th__ of April_

The next morning Naruto woke up when Sasuke came down the stairs. They didn't speak as they ate breakfast, neither when they sat in the living room together. Naruto was trying to write a report, but was having some trouble. Sasuke just sat staring outside, looking uncharacteristically lost.

They sat there silently, not looking at each other until the doorbell rang. Naruto stood up to open the door; it were Sakura and Kakashi.

When Kakashi came into the room, he looked from Naruto to Sasuke questioningly. "Could you tell me what has happened?"

Naruto stepped forward and sighed as he looked down to Sasuke who still sat on the couch. "That woman-"

"Akiharu?"

"Yes, she told..." Naruto looked down to Sasuke to see if he would finish Naruto's sentence, but he had his lips tightly pressed together it seemed. Naruto stroked his hand through his hair. "He's still in shock... I'm still in shock." He turned away, his back to everyone in the room; it wasn't his place to tell them. Kakashi and Sakura patiently waited, looking from Naruto's back to Sasuke.

The doorbell rang again and Naruto left the room.

"Sasuke-kun, why don't you tell us? Has it something to do with her illness?"

Sasuke looked up to Sakura. "Huh?"

_Apparently not._ Sakura and Kakashi looked at each other just as Naruto came back.

"I guess you'll find out right now." He stepped aside and Akiharu walked into the room, a small child was hiding behind her legs. They only saw a small hand, clutching at his mother's pants. Sasuke looked up as well, slightly shaking.

"I wanted you to see him." Akiharu pushed the boy forward.

As soon as he was visible gasps were taken. The little boy, the five year old to be precise, was an exact copy of Sasuke. His hair was black and was standing up in the same fashion only Sasuke's hair seemed to be able to do. Except Sasuke had long bangs and the boy had a short fringe and where Sasuke's hair was bluish black, the boy's hair was brownish black. He had the same skin colour as Sasuke's and his face looked the same, though with the exception of the only thing that really set him apart from Sasuke, were his eyes. He had his mother's bright teal eyes. He was wearing a black shirt with dark green shorts and was still clinging to his mother.

Sakura's mouth was literally hanging open and Naruto had never seen Kakashi's eye as wide as it was now. Sasuke was just staring at the boy. Naruto couldn't do much else either.

Akiharu pushed the little boy a little more forward. "Go on, Akira."

Akira shyly looked at everyone and then gave a small bow. "Douzo yorushiku," he said politely in a calm soft voice. When he stood up again he began fiddling with his shirt.

Silence fell, until Sakura finally found her voice. "Nice to meet you too, Akira-kun," she said almost breathlessly, but tried to smile kindly to the boy.

Akira looked up to her and gave a small smile before looking back to his shirt again.

"Can I?" he suddenly asked his mother.

"You can."

They all looked at Akira as he slowly walked toward Sasuke and stopped in front of him. He bit his lip and slowly looked up into Sasuke's eyes. His hand disappeared into his pocket and when he pulled it back out again he held something in his hand.

"This… this is for you," he said with a small voice and his cheeks became a slight tint of pink.

Sasuke held up his hand and Akira opened his small fist above Sasuke's open palm. A small dark blue stone fell into his hand. Sasuke looked at it.

"What's this," he asked, his mind unable to process anything at the moment.

Akira smiled. "Look, when you hold it like this," he turned the stone on Sasuke's hand, "it looks like a bird that is flying. An eagle," he said proudly and smiled as Sasuke stared at it.

He nodded. "I see."

"You do? Kaa-chan couldn't," Akira said enthusiastically.

Suddenly Akiharu began coughing and Akira ran back to her. "Kaa-chan?" he looked up to her.

"I'm alright. You remember what I told you, don't you?"

Akira nodded and Akiharu hunched down beside him. "Tell me again." Her eyes looked up to Sasuke (almost darkly) even though her face was still facing Akira.

"Kaa-chan is very ill and will soon go to sleep forever; to heaven. You will be fine there and otou-san will take care of me." He turned to Sasuke and had a small blush on his face.

Akiharu looked up to Sasuke as well. "You will, don't you Sasuke?"

Sasuke had closed up and couldn't say a thing. His hand closed around the small stone Akira had given him.

Silence fell.

"He will." Naruto suddenly stepped forward. "And I'll help." He had no idea where it came from, but looking at the small boy... remembering what it was like being all alone...

"Who are you?" Akira looked up to Naruto and saw his ears and tail.

"I'm Naruto, I live with Sasuke."

"Like a pet?" the small boy asked.

"What? No, I'm… eto…"

Akira slowly walked to Naruto and grasped his pants. "You're a special pet, aren't you?"

"Akira, Naruto-san isn't a pet."

"Ow."

"He is a… _friend_ of otou-san." Akiharu looked up to Sasuke.

"Okay." Akira pulled on Naruto's pants so he would bow down to him. Naruto did so and hunched down so Akira could whisper in his ear, his fox ear.

Even though he was whispering, Naruto gentlu pushed Akira back a little. "Not so close to my ear. That's rather loud."

"Really?" Akira's eyebrows shot up. Naruto nodded. Akira began to whisper again. "Is otou-san mad at me?"

Naruto looked at Akira, a bit fazed at the mention of Sasuke as 'otou-san'. "No, he just always looks a bit grumpy," he pulled Akira closer and whispered back, "and he's just a bit surprised to see you, give him some time. I think he will be glad to get to know you." Akira nodded. Somehow Naruto just wanted to comfort the small boy a little.

"Akiharu-san, could you please come with me and Sasuke. Sakura and Naruto will take care of Akira," Kakashi said. It wasn't really a question, but not an order either. Akiharu nodded.

"Kaa-san will be back in a moment," she told her son.

"Okay."

Kakashi and Sasuke went to the kitchen where Akiharu sat down on a chair.

"Please tell me who you are."

"My name is Akiharu as I told you before. I was six when my parents died of poisoning. I somehow survived the same attack. Ten years later, when I was on a mission for my small country I met Orochimaru. He took me with him and I lived with some of his other subordinates when I met Sasuke. I was 19 back then.

After I found out I was pregnant I asked Orochimaru to let me go. I was already ill back then. I have an incurable genetic illness that seems to run only on the female side of the family." She coughed again.

"I raised Akira in a small village not far from the fire country. You can probably check that if you want. We lived there till last year, when my illness became worse. I decided I could no longer hold Akira away from Sasuke and he needed a father for when I wouldn't be around anymore."

She looked up to Kakashi and then to Sasuke. "We searched for you for almost an entire year. I didn't know you weren't with Orochimaru anymore and you had killed him. So I first tried to look at his old hideouts. Then eventually I found out he was dead and you had returned to Konoha.

Travelling is very hard for me lately, so we moved very slowly and I didn't want to make Akira too uncomfortable so we stayed at some villages for a few weeks before moving on." A tear streaked down her face. "Just promise me you will take good care of him?"

"You know we cannot just believe you, we will need to do some research," Kakashi said and Akiharu nodded.

Kakashi looked over to Sasuke. "We need to tell this to the Hokage."

Sasuke just looked up and said nothing.

"We better go now. I don't think I can do this another time," Akiharu said, referring to her illness. She slowly stood up, wobbling a bit.

"Thank you," Kakashi said as he helped her up.

Together they walked to the door and went to Tsunade. Kakashi and Sasuke knew Naruto had heard their conversation, so they didn't need to tell them they were going away.

-x-

Naruto looked up to Sakura as he heard the door close. Akira was on the porch looking into the garden. He was perfectly capable of enjoying himself by just watching the plants and the animals move around. Right now he was studying a caterpillar.

"Where are they going?" Sakura asked.

"Tsunade."

"Thought so." Sakura looked up to Akira as he was talking to the crawling creature on the porch, asking him questions.

"This is so weird," Sakura said.

"Tell me about it."

"I mean, he is a chibi Sasuke-kun."

Naruto didn't answer and just stared at the boy, who picked the caterpillar up and came running in, holding it up to Naruto.

"Can you ask his name for me?"

"Eh?"

"Did you already try asking yourself?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, but I can't understand him."

"What's your name, caterpillar-san?" Sakura asked the bug.

Akira stared at her. "You can talk to caterpillars?" he asked stunned.

"You don't think so?"

Akira shook his head, "Kaa-chan can't either," he said like that explained everything. He pulled his hand back.

"I'll put him on a nice flower. Can I do that?" he asked Sakura.

"Sure, be careful when you get off the porch."

He did so, trying not to hurt the caterpillar all the while as he went to a small bush of daffodils.

"That caterpillar will eat all the plants," Naruto said a bit concerned about his plants.

"Let that boy be happy that he helped a caterpillar."

Silence fell again as Sakura and Naruto watched the boy pick a nice flower and carefully putting the creature down on it.

"I wonder how Sasuke will take all this."

"He's shocked all right."

"Who isn't. I didn't know he ever…" She turned to Naruto and then back to look at Akira. "You know… with someone else…"

It could have been quite funny how Sakura normally always teased Naruto about his sex life with Sasuke and now couldn't even say the word.

Naruto shook his head. He hadn't known either and that was what made him so angry. _Why had Sasuke never told him?_

-x-

Sometime later Sasuke, Kakashi and Akiharu returned. Akiharu took Akira and they left the house.

Kakashi looked from Sasuke to Sakura and Naruto.

"She's most likely telling the truth and she promised to take part in a DNA-test to make sure. I'll go on a mission to find the village where she let Akira grow up to verify that part of the story as well."

Sakura and Naruto nodded. Naruto had told Sakura what he'd heard when Akira was playing in the garden.

"Well, I'll be going then. Ja mata." He turned around and walked to the door, casting a concerned glance to Sasuke and Naruto before he walked out of the house.

"I've a meeting with Iruka-sensei," Naruto said and he followed Kakashi out of the door.

Sakura didn't want to leave Sasuke all alone now, so she stayed to talk to him.

At first Sasuke was annoyed by her presence, but later on he began to appreciate that she'd stayed. Especially because she didn't brought up the subject he did not want to discuss again. Talking with Tsunade about it had been enough.

-x-

Naruto sat in the Dango shop with Iruka, who was talking to him, but he didn't really hear what he was saying. He was talking about some metal plates and the will of fire or something.

All that Naruto could think of was that little boy, the chibi-Sasuke, his mother, Akiharu, and what she and Sasuke had done. How would they have met? Had Orochimaru introduced them? Or had they just accidentally run into each other one day?

Had they been forced to have sex? Multiple times? Or had they wanted to do it? Both? Why hadn't Sasuke ever told him? It wasn't like Sasuke talked a lot about his time with Orochimaru, but he had told Naruto some stories of what had happened back then; some random things about experiments he'd seen or about a technique he'd learned.

Naruto didn't know a lot about his relationship with the snake man other than that he hadn't been very remorseful about killing him. The more he thought about it, the more questions came to mind. Things he'd never bothered about before. Suddenly he noticed Iruka staring at him.

"What?"

"I said that I was jealous, but it seems you weren't really listening."

"No, I heard you were jealous when you were young that they had such a plate and you hadn't." Though that was about all he'd remembered.

Iruka stared at him. "Are you all right, Naruto?"

"Hm."

"That's not a real answer." Iruka told him as he looked slightly concerned.

Eventually Naruto sighed. "You'll come to know anyway." Iruka patiently waited.

"This woman, Akiharu, came on the training field yesterday and told Sasuke she has a child from him." Iruka gasped softly. "Today she came at our place with the boy." Naruto looked Iruka straight in his eyes. "He looks exactly like Sasuke, except for his eyes." Naruto fell silent and looked down at the table. Iruka just stared back at Naruto.

"How's Sasuke's reaction?"

"Shock." Naruto shrugged.

"And you?"

Naruto looked up. "I… I don't really know. I'm angry at Sasuke, but I also understand that he's as astonished as I am. I don't really know. " He clenched and unclenched his fists.

Iruka laid his hand on the blonds' shoulder. "You two need to talk this out."

"It's worse, sensei." Naruto took a breath. "That Akiharu, she is dying. She practically just came here to deliver the boy to Sasuke."

Iruka's eyebrows shot up. "Really."

Naruto nodded. "I don't know how to react… how to be around Sasuke."

"Like you always do; be yourself." Iruka stared at Naruto until their eyes met.

"Thanks Iruka-sensei."

"It's fine, just eat your dango or I will."

"That's not necessary, I'll do that myself."

* * *

><p>Kakashi had been away for a week now to find the village. Sakura had decided to go with him. Before she had gone she had called Naruto to her and had told him to put his own emotions aside for now and take care of Sasuke and the boy, who was about to lose his mother.<p>

Naruto had agreed with her, not at first but she could be very convincing and now he knew she was right. In the last two days Akiharu's condition had worsened. This morning she had been hospitalized. Akira had been with her till around 11:00 and then Sasuke had taken him home with him. They would return to the hospital as soon as her condition worsened or at the first upcoming visiting hour. Akiharu had told Sasuke to do so. She hadn't wanted Akira to see her lying on the bed like this all day.

Naruto had gone to the training ground for his team that morning, but since he had been 'all out of it' as Eri had said, they had let him go back home. Kenji had of course protested at first, but when Naruto didn't even bother to respond to Eri when she told him she would like to get some ramen, not even Kenji could deny that something was wrong and could no longer hold him on the field.

So that was why they were all sitting in the living room, Sasuke and Naruto at the table, Akira on the couch watching the television. He was watching some programme about animals.

"Otou-san?" he suddenly asked softly.

Sasuke didn't respond, he was trying to write some report or something.

"Otou-san?" Akira asked a little louder.

"Hn?" Sasuke looked up, not being used to be addressed like that.

"When can we go see kaa-chan?"

"When she contacts us to come or at 15:00, whatever comes first." Sasuke returned his attention to his writing.

"Can't we go sooner?"

"She told us not to."

"Oh." Akira turned to face the television again.

After a while Akira began shifting on the couch. "Naruto?"

"Yes?"

"Have you ever seen such an animal?" he pointed to the screen.

Naruto turned his head to it as well. It showed some animal that lived in the snow. "Nah, never seen it before. It looks like it's too cold to go and look for such an animal anyway."

Naruto watched Akira as he turned back to the television. Even Naruto could see he wanted to go to his mother.

"Sasuke, can't we go to the hospital, just for 15 minutes?"

Sasuke looked up to Naruto and then to Akira as he saw Naruto move his eyes in his direction. Akira turned away from the television, looking hopefully to Sasuke.

"Please, otou-san?"

"Okay, just for 15 minutes."

-x-

In the hospital Akiharu seemed to have worsened to the point she couldn't stand anymore and could only lie down on the bed.

"Why haven't you told me?" Sasuke asked the nurse who had told him so, while Akira was standing at the side of the bed talking to his mother. The nurse winced at the tone Sasuke had used.

"I'm very sorry Uchiha-san, but Akiharu-san said-"

"I told you to call me-"

"Sasuke," Naruto said. Sasuke straightened himself, making his tall stature only become more imposing and became emotionless once more.

"Fine." He turned around and wanted to leave the room to go and sit in the hall but Akiharu called him.

"Please stay here for a moment."

Akira sat on the bed, his legs swinging and he looked up to Sasuke with longing eyes.

Sasuke sighed, growled and went to sit in the chair next to the bed. He gave Naruto a look that told him he didn't want to sit down. Like he was asking Naruto to say something so he could leave.

"And then I saw this big white animal that lived in the snow. Naruto said he also had never seen it." Akira proceeded his story to his mother, who listened attentively. "Have you? Otou-san?" Akira asked carefully as he looked at Sasuke.

Sasuke looked from the boy to the woman and then to Naruto who was still standing near the door. "No," he said as he looked back to Akira. "But I have seen something similar once."

"You have?" Akira asked happily. "Where?"

"On a mission near the iron country."

"Where's that?"

-x-

An hour later a nurse came in and wanted to take Akira and Naruto away from Akiharu (she didn't dare ask Sasuke to leave as well, since the way he had reacted earlier and of his imposing form) as she was looking very pale now and couching more often. However Akiharu had told her that they had to stay.

Instead Naruto had suggested that he and Akira would get them something to eat and drink, seeing Akiharu's condition was worsening by the minute now.

Akiharu had actually suddenly changed her opinion and had said to get her some food from the street she liked so much. Naruto expected she wanted the time to talk to Sasuke now she still could, or she had realised how bad she looked and didn't want Akira to see her worsen even further.

As Naruto and Akira left to buy the food, the nurse began to check Akiharu's IV.

"Sasuke, I still want to tell you something." She began coughing again, but this time she kept coughing and it almost seemed like she was choking. The nurse came walking to the bed, but Akiharu shook her head.

Finally being able to breathe again she said, "I don't want anything. I have had enough medicine in my live and none have ever done me any good. I want to die like this, please leave?"

The nurse hesitated, but then nodded and left the room. Sasuke and Akiharu were alone now.

"I hadn't really planned to ever come to you to be honest," Akiharu suddenly said. Sasuke looked into her eyes. "I thought I would find Akira another father that would raise him, but I never met someone like that.

After a while I began to think that it was only fair that I would bring him to you. He asked a lot of questions about you and I could not answer them."

Her eyes looked sad and dull. "And then when I thought about it… it was only fair _towards Akira_ to bring him to you, his real father. Not someone that acted like one. Not when he still had a real father."

She stopped for a moment before she continued. "I told him everything he needs to know about me, so he will remember me. I'm ready to leave him behind with you. I know that even if you don't want him, you will find him a good home. He's young, he will adapt." She smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"I'll take care of him."

Akiharu smiled. "I don't want him to become a ninja. I'm afraid of what he might become. Sasuke, promise me you won't encourage him to become a shinobi."

Sasuke said nothing at that. Akiharu coughed again, but this time blood was on her hands and she started breathing heavier.

"Sasuke." He looked to her. Her hair sleek on her face, not dancing as it had once done. "I have never wanted this to happen, but I can't deny that if I was placed in the same position again, that I wouldn't do the same if I got the opportunity; if I think it brought me Akira. I love him.

Even though I can't say that I don't hate you for this. It wasn't really your fault, but I can't deny either that for years when I thought of you, only hate filled me."

She turned a bit in the bed as they both heard Akira talk in the hall. Naruto apparently was holding them there on purpose so they could finish their talk.

"But having seen your reaction when we saw each other again, I guess you had a similar feeling. I'm no longer really angry with you. I still don't like you, but I believe you can be a fine father; you have too. Akira means everything to me!" She coughed and it sounded really bad. She wiped her mouth clean. "Please bring him in?"

Sasuke stood up and walked to the door and came back with Akira. Naruto stayed in the hall with the bag of food. They all knew Akiharu wouldn't want it anyway and Naruto thought it better to leave them alone. Although Sasuke would have wanted him in, he knew.

"Kaa-chan? Are you going to sleep soon?" Akira asked as he stood next to the bed, looking at his very pale mother.

Akiharu grasped his hand. "I will. You promise me you will have fun with otou-san?"

Akira nodded.

"Otou-san will protect… you… from…" she had difficulty breathing.

"Kaa-chan?"

Sasuke lifted Akira up and put him on the bed and he lay down next to his mother.

"I… I love… y-you."

"I love you too kaa-chan."

Akiharu tried to hug Akira, but all she could manage was put one arm around him. It was enough. "I'll see… you…"

"I'll see you again someday," Akira said what his mother had wanted to say.

She smiled. "Yes… one day…" she closed her eyes and her breathing became slower.

"Bye, mama."

Akiharu took one more slow breath and with that she was gone.

Sasuke let Akira lie there for a while and then walked up to him and grasped his shoulder. Akira looked up.

"The nurses will…" Sasuke hesitated, "will give okaa-san a nice bed to sleep in."

Akira nodded and stood up. Before he left the bed he kissed Akiharu on her cheek and then walked to Sasuke and took his hand.

"We will visit her?"

"We will."

They walked out of the room, to his new home, leaving his mother to sleep for eternity.

-oXo-

A/N: I just want to say that I think Naruto is acting like this, because he doesn't know how to act at all (neither does anyone else :P)

And Ergolamia, since I can't reply to your reviews in another way: thank you for your reviews, I really enjoy reading them :D


	8. Chapter 8: Feeling uncomfortable

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sensei.

-x- _Small time skip_

-horizontal bar- _Large time skip/ next day_

-o-o-o- _Change of person POV; some time overlap_

Ooh, long chapter~... but not the longest one yet ^^

-oXo-

**Chapter 8: Feeling uncomfortable**

_17__th__ of May_

Two days after Akiharu's death there had been a small funeral and Akira had talked all day about his mother and what he would miss about her, but that they would see each other again someday.

Naruto and Sasuke had been impressed how well Akiharu had prepared him and how fine Akira handled it. He had only cried when they had come home from the hospital. Sasuke had carried him upstairs and had sat with him at his bed in the guest room, which was now Akira's room, until he had fallen asleep.

In the middle of the night he had come to their bed and had asked if he could sleep with them.

Initially Sasuke hadn't wanted to let him in, but when he had seen the look on Akira's face he couldn't send him away (nor could Naruto) and had lifted him onto the bed, laying him in between Naruto and himself.

Right now they were sitting at the high kitchen table, eating. Naruto always had his tail between the bars in the back of the chair and Akira had been very fascinated by it at first and still was. However his hunger had overcome his fascination and he had climbed up his own chair.

Sasuke put a plate with toast in front of Akira and sat down so he could eat as well. Akira looked down at the toast.

"Kaa-chan cuts the toast in six pieces," he said softly, looking at the eight pieces in front of him.

"You want me-" Sasuke started a tad annoyed.

"I always told her to cut it in eight pieces, she never did." He took a piece of toast and began eating.

Breakfast was actually quite awkward as Naruto didn't know how to react around Sasuke and neither Sasuke around him or around the boy. The raven didn't know what to do and even if he would like to be a father he'd no idea how to, but it was easier to act like Akira wasn't his son, just a boy dropped into his lap.

"I have to leave; I'm going to convince baa-chan to give my team their first C-rank mission."

Sasuke looked up to Naruto as he walked away. He probably hoped for a mission that was going to take longer so he wouldn't need to face Sasuke as much. Sasuke didn't mind. He had to find out how to take care of a five-year-old and he couldn't handle that if he had Naruto around and they were acting awkward around each other.

"Can we go outside later?" Akira asked as Naruto had left.

"Er, sure."

-o-o-o-

Naruto walked his team to a huge mansion just outside Konoha. He growled at the thought of their mission. Naruto had convinced Tsunade to give them a C-rank mission surprisingly easily and now he knew why.

"Are you okay, Naruto-sensei?" Ryomaru asked at the growling of his blond sensei.

"Fine," Naruto almost muttered. Ryomaru and Eri exchanged looks.

"Are you sure, sensei?" Eri asked politely.

"Yes. We're almost there."

They walked up to some stairs that led up to a huge and expensive looking veranda decorated with beautiful ornaments, curling everywhere. If Naruto hadn't been so grumpy he probably would have 'wow-ed' or something with his team.

He let his ears go up, so it wouldn't look like he didn't look forward to the mission and a smile appeared on his face before he knocked on the door. Eri and Ryomaru were excitedly looking around until the door opened and quickly came to stand as straight as Kenji.

"Ah, the ninjas; so glad you could come. Milady is inside. Follow me, please," a maid said.

Naruto nodded and followed her inside after taking off his sandals and found out the house was indeed very big as the woman led them from one room to another.

"Please wait a moment," the maid told them when she stopped in front of a highly decorated door.

Naruto gave a big sigh as the woman disappeared and his shoulders slumped. Why, out of all the C-rank missions on the world, did Tsunade have to give him this one... _now _nonetheless? She must have done so on purpose. He just knew it.

"Sensei?" Eri whispered. Naruto looked down to her. "Could it be you don't like children?"

"That's not it," he whispered back so softly Eri wasn't sure if she had heard him correctly.

"You don't like babysitting? Is it like with animals?" Ryomaru asked hesitantly.

"No, no, nothing like that." Naruto waved his hand to his team. "Just something on my mind, nothing for you to worry about." He smiled and before any of his students could respond, the door opened.

"Milady is ready to receive you," the maid said as she held the door open to them.

They stepped into the overly flowery room with white painted furniture and a lot of coloured cushions on the wooden couch and other things Naruto was sure about were too much for a nice home. It almost looked like an old lady lived here with the flowered curtains and small statues everywhere, but in the window a young lady was seated with a baby in her arms, cooing him as he cried.

"Ah, you're here, how good." The woman stood up and her long brown curls framed her face as she walked up to them and looked at all of them before she spoke again.

"I'm Izayui. My husband and I will be away for the day to be led around the beautiful Konoha," she said over the wailing of the baby. Why hadn't Tsunade given them that mission instead, of guiding the two noblemen around; Naruto wondered.

"Hai, Izayui-sama."

"Keisuke-chan is the most precious thing to me along with his brother Daisuke." She carefully handed the baby to Eri, probably because she was the only girl and walked away rather quickly as the wailing of the baby continued. "Daisuke is in the next room. Good bye," she said as she walked away.

Silence fell with team 9 and only the baby was heard as Eri tried to rock him a bit.

"I think she just wanted to get rid of him," Kenji said. Eri nodded and Naruto couldn't deny this either.

"How do you make it stop?" Kenji asked as they all looked down at the crying baby.

"Give it food, change it or let it sleep," Ryomaru said as if the baby was an object he'd learned about from a book.

"I'm not going to change its diaper!" Kenji protested.

"Keisuke is not an it, he's a _he_. And changing diapers probably isn't that bad," Eri told him.

"We'll take turns in changing his diaper, is that all right?" Ryomaru asked.

"Sure."

Kenji eyed the baby. "There just has to be some way to stop it from crying?"

"Let's see if you need changing, ne Keisuke-chan?" Eri walked to the other room where Daisuke was supposed to be. She assumed it was a bedroom. "And otherwise we'll let you sleep."

Inside the next room a small boy from around two years was playing within a heap of toys.

Ryomaru's mouth fell open at the amount. "I wish I had only half of the toys he has, when I was little."

Kenji nodded. "Spoiled brats," he muttered.

-o-o-o-

Sasuke sat on a bench on the playground watching Akira sit on a swing. Akira was such a happy kid, it reminded him of the time when he was young. When his parents had still been alive and he could train with Itachi. One day he'd lost everything.

Akira was in a similar position, losing everything, but he had been prepared and he had gained something else. He had lost his mother and had gotten a father instead. Sasuke didn't think Akira could really see him as a father though.

_How could he?_ They hadn't been around each other for that long yet and they'd actually never seen each other before. He doubted that Akiharu had talked a lot about him to her son. His son... his... son.

He still couldn't believe it. It was something he'd always wanted and now it was literally dropped into his lap. Yes he had always liked to have kids one day, but when he knew he'd fallen in love with Naruto he knew it wouldn't be possible. He'd still liked to have kids till this day, but had accepted he wouldn't. Not of his own. Not like this.

He was confused; he was happy having a family, but was afraid of what this would do with Naruto (and to himself). What it would do to them. He loved Naruto, but he was afraid this might make a small wedge between them as it already had and would only become bigger. He also knew they could get through this eventually as much as they loved each other, but...

Sasuke sighed and let his head fall into his hands. He was a father, he had a son. He wasn't good with kids, how could he ever take care of this one? How could he ever become a good father when he'd never known he was a father in the first place? What would his parents have said?

Suddenly he felt a small hand pulling his pants. "Tou-san?"

"Hm?" Sasuke looked up into teal eyes.

"Will you push me?" Akira pointed to the swing.

Sasuke looked over to the swing and then back to the boy. Normally he would have refused, but now... should a father push his son on a swing? But he wasn't really a father.

"Please?"

He could try, couldn't he? He could always let the boy swing on his own and sit down again? He hated being unsure of himself and the situation around him. He never was unsure, not like this.

"Tou-san?"

Why did he keep calling Sasuke that? How could he do that so easily? Sasuke could hardly think of Akira as his son let alone say it out loud. Was this because he was a child? Or because Akiharu had told him to call him so?

It was normal for the mother to call the father not by his name but to call him father even when talking to him alone. Had Akiharu always done that? Had she never mentioned his name to the boy? Was that why he called him tou-san?

He stood up and walked with Akira to the swing as Akira happily smiled.

Would he ever get used to this?

-o-o-o-

Sometime later, Eri was sitting next to the crib with a still crying Keisuke, Ryomaru was playing with Daisuke, Kenji looked quite annoyed at what his first C-rank mission had brought him and Naruto wasn't far off either as he sat still in a chair looking down on the kids as his ears turned on his head, listening to any sound other than the crying.

Eri took the baby out of his crib and tried rocking him again. After some time, this didn't have a lot of effect and Kenji glared at Eri and the baby. Eri had had quite enough of Kenji and pushed the baby into his arms in a way he just had to take the baby.

Ryomaru sniggered as his attention was drawn to Kenji. Immediately a small hand pulled his sleeve. Daisuke seemed to be selfish, telling Ryomaru what to do and such, but since he always had to play alone this was understandable. This also had the result that he was very glad someone wanted to play with him.

Soon Kenji was still uncomfortabe as he held the baby and Eri joined Daisuke and Ryomaru as the small boy had pulled her down.

Kenji didn't know what to do and considered giving the baby to Naruto, but the look on Naruto's face made him reconsider.

Eventually when the baby started drooling on his shirt he decided to just give the baby to Ryomaru as he was just standing up. Quickly Kenji sat down and Daisuke immediately pushed a small toy car in his hands and gave him instruction what to do with it.

He didn't like playing with Daisuke either, but it was the best out of two worse, he decided. Ryomaru just took over his role of trying to calm the baby down and went to the next room to sit on the couch.

Naruto stared at Daisuke as he was happy with his new playmates. Akira was older, but he'd been quite alone as well, Naruto thought, though Akira didn't seem to be lonely.

_What would it be like with a child in the house?_ He didn't think it was very bad; Sasuke and he would just have to make sure at least someone was there to take care of the boy.

_Would this mean fewer missions? Less team Kakashi missions? Less training with his team?_ What would Sasuke give up for the boy and how much did Naruto have to? It was Sasuke's son. Sasuke's and that woman, who was no longer around. Akira had just lost his mother.

What _would it be like to lose one's mother?_ Naruto thought it would probably be horrible, but Akira was acting quite grown up for his age in this situation.

Naruto sighed. So many questions, so many unanswered questions. Somehow being around Akira was awkward and… nice at the same time. Akira was a good kid to be around; happy and could take care of himself. But it still was Sasuke's son. Naruto still wasn't sure what to think of it.

A scream woke him from his thoughts when Daisuke gave a yell when Kenji did something wrong.

"No! Like this. Drive like this!" he told Kenji.

Kenji grumbled softly as he took the car again and did what the boy had said. He was only doing this because he knew that when the boy's mother would return and he had done bad to the boy he would surely tell her so.

Naruto stood up and walked to the next room. Ryomaru hadn't been able to calm down the kid. He was just finishing checking him over with his chakra glowing hands.

"Something wrong?" Naruto asked.

Ryomaru looked up as he hadn't heard Naruto come in because of the crying baby.

"No, he-he's fine. I can't find anything at all," he said softly and he held the baby against his chest and patted his back. "I have no idea why he's crying so much. He's not hungry or anything."

Naruto took a bit of pity to the boy as he was a bit down that he couldn't find any cause to the baby's crying.

"Don't worry; sometimes you just have babies that cry a lot."

"I know, my sisters always say I was one too," Ryomaru pulled up his nose.

"I can't really imagine that," Naruto grinned.

"I'm beginning to think they were just teasing me."

Naruto laughed. "Give him to me, so you can go to Daisuke. I think Kenji will be glad to have you around to take away some attention of him."

Ryomaru smiled at the idea, but he knew Kenji would never admit it, though it probably was true. He nodded and handed Naruto the baby. Naruto held him against his chest and sat down on the couch as Ryomaru walked into the other room.

Smart, very smart. Now he was even closer to the source of his beginning headache. He had no idea how to take care of babies. The only thing he knew was to support the head and that was about it. He'd had to babysit sometime in his own genin days, but Sakura was there then and she would take most care of the children, especially when babies were involved.

His thoughts went back to the boy in his own house.

-o-o-o-

Sasuke watched Akira as Akira stared back at him with a handful of mud in his hands and a big smile on his face, though it was slightly wavering.

"Why did you do that?" Sasuke asked irritated.

"But look," Akira held up his hands showing it to Sasuke. Sasuke looked down and saw a worm move through the mud. "There's a worm in there!" the boy said happily.

"Put it back. Don't come with dirt into the house," Sasuke told him sternly as a mud trail led from the porch through the living room into the kitchen. "And don't dig in the garden."

"But..."

"Put it back," Sasuke said harshly.

First Akira had come inside and had yanked him to the tree in the garden to show a bird sitting there. Then he'd almost fallen into the small pond when he'd wanted to catch a koi fish and he'd flattened a few flowers (Naruto probably wasn't going to be happy about that) when he'd thought he'd seen a dragonfly. Sasuke had had enough of this.

Akira's lower lip quivered a bit and he lowered his hands. "Kaa-chan didn't mind me bringing in animals," he said softly.

"I'm not your mother." He'd said it before he was even aware of it.

Akira just stood there, staring at his worm and slowly began sobbing and Sasuke sighed. Great, he was making the boy cry. He had recently lost his mother and he was making the boy cry. He just wasn't good with kids, they cried so easily.

He hunched down in front of the boy. "Your mother and I are a bit different when it comes to rules," he started, no idea how to make this up to the kid. Akira looked up as tears were still welling up in his eyes. "I know I will have to change a bit, but you need to adapt to me as well, you understand?" Akira nodded. "Now bring back the worm and I'll clean up the mud. Just don't bring in these animals into the house anymore, okay?" Akira nodded again as he sobbed.

"O-okay," he said in a small voice. A tear fell down his cheek and Sasuke hated himself. He knew you could spoil kids by being too caring, but Sasuke was actually lacking a bit in that apartment; he could use a little more caring for the boy.

Akira turned away and Sasuke slowly reached forward. "Wait, Akira," he said as he grasped his small shoulder. Akira looked up as more tears were streaming down his face. "I-" Sasuke didn't really know how to start. "I don't know how to be a father," he just blurted out, he just couldn't help it. "You need to help me a bit."

Akira looked back into his black eyes and stopped sobbing, though tears were still falling down. Sasuke slowly reached to the small face and hesitated for a moment before wiping away the tears.

"I know you miss your okaa-san, I lost my mother too when I was young."

Akira blinked a few times. "You had?"

Sasuke nodded. "Yes, I have." He unconsciously corrected the boy, who didn't notice. "But... but I'll take care of you now and I know I will not be able to replace okaa-san, I..." he wiped away another tear, "I'll be there for you."

As he said this he realised it was true. He would never be able to give the boy away to someone else and he knew no matter what would happen he really would take care of him, even though he wasn't quite sure yet of how to do that.

The tears stopped and Akira nodded. Sasuke had no idea if he had understood what Sasuke had said.

"But I can play with animals?" Akira asked.

Sasuke was silent for a moment as Akira said this and was beginning to wonder if Akira had even heard him. Were animals all he could think about?

"Eh, sure." Sasuke let his hand drop into his lap. "Sure, but play outside with them."

Akira gave a small smile and ran away.

Sasuke was confused. He hated talking to kids because of this. They were so unpredictable and he had no idea what he could tell them and what not. Sometimes you could tell too much and they wouldn't understand or get frightened and other times they could handle it perfectly fine, like with Akiharu dying.

He grunted and stood up to get a bucket and water to clean up the mud.

-o-o-o-

In the room next to Naruto, Daisuke had been very glad to be able to tell around what his three new friends should do and Ryomaru was very kind to take most of the load on himself. Kenji tried to get away sometimes by saying he had to check the room, but after walking around the room, he was unable to stall his 'break' any longer and had to come back to his car to drive it around.

Suddenly Daisuke stopped in his tracks and looked around wonderingly. "Keisuke?" he asked.

Suddenly the three genin noticed as well. It had become very quiet; Keisuke's crying couldn't be heard.

Kenji and Eri stood up, walking slowly to the door as they pulled out a kunai. Ryomaru moved closer to Daisuke and tried to distract him from his teammates.

Kenji opened the door and was quite surprised at what he saw.

Naruto was staring blankly to an awfully flowered wall and Keisuke was sleeping on his chest. Sleeping… silently…

"Sensei?" he whispered and Naruto turned to him.

"Huh?"

Kenji pointed to the baby and Eri came to stand next to Kenji, looking down amazed as well.

"How did you do that?" Kenji whispered.

"No idea," Naruto grinned only now realising what had happened. "I'll place him back in his crib."

"Ha," Eri said almost breathlessly as she saw Naruto carefully stand up and heading to the other room.

Daisuke looked up amazed to his baby brother as Naruto entered the room. "Is that Keisuke?" he asked.

Naruto nodded and Daisuke stood up to see if he was right as Naruto tried to lay the baby down without hurting or waking it.

"It is," he said after a while. He blinked and sat down on the ground again to play.

"Wow, sensei." Eri just couldn't understand it. "I thought perhaps babies were just like animals around you, but I guess not.

"He was just tired from crying all morning. Just lucky." But the words hadn't left Naruto's mouth as he reached for the doorknob when whimpering sounded.

"Gonna cwy again," Daisuke told them. He was right as the whimpering turned into a load wail.

"Quickly, take him," Eri pointed to the baby as she said this to Naruto. "Sensei!"

"I told you, this has nothing to do with me," Naruto said, but nonetheless went to the baby to pick him up.

He stood there holding the baby and he was still crying. "See, just luck." He wanted to lay him back, but Eri stopped him.

"Just wait." She stared at the baby as Naruto laid him back against his chest.

Naruto began to look around a bit uncomfortably as Eri kept staring at him and Keisuke. Kenji was interested as well, because it was something different then playing with Daisuke and Daisuke and Ryomaru looked up as well; waiting.

And then the crying stopped and Keisuke fell asleep.

"You see! I told you," Eri almost shouted, but put her voice down as Keisuke whimpered at the hard sound. "You have to hold him!" she whispered enthusiastically.

Naruto groaned. _Great._

"All you have to do is let Daisuke play with your tail and we're free," Kenji said grinning at his sensei. Naruto had curled his tail around his waist under his shirt before entering the room, because he knew kids liked tails and he didn't liked them pulling it.

"Shh," Naruto shushed him and quickly glanced to Daisuke, who looked up interestingly.

"Tail?" was all he asked with a cute high pitched voice.

"No tail," Naruto said, turning his back away from the small boy.

"And ears," Kenji added.

"Ears?"

This earned Kenji a dangerously evil glare. "One more word…" Naruto growled.

Kenji knew he wasn't seriously angry, so he just grinned back, but stopped nonetheless.

Eri slapped him on the back of his head. "This is a C-rank mission; you have to do something for it!"

"I am; I'm telling the kid something that makes him happy."

In the mean time Daisuke had approached Naruto and was dangerously close to grabbing his tail. The only thing in Naruto's advantage was that he wasn't very tall yet and had to reach to come to Naruto's waist. Plus Naruto was trained to divert grabbing hands… more or less; there wasn't really a training session about avoiding snatching hands.

"No tail, Kenji is joking. Go play with him." But Naruto's words could not pass that one word that Daisuke kept repeating.

"Tail, tail!" he almost chanted.

Naruto growled as he gave Kenji an annoyed look. "Go do something useful, check the area and get me something to drink," he told Kenji and his grin became lesser, but wasn't completely gone yet.

"Sure." With that he walked away.

"Come and play, Daisuke," Ryomaru tried, but all he got when he grasped the boy's shoulder was an angry look and a slap against his hand.

"He really is spoiled," Eri said as she had no idea how to help her sensei. "Perhaps you just have to give him… you know?"

"No, I won't have him pulling and drooling on it." Naruto had finally reached a small wooden bench where toys were stored in and sat down. Daisuke could climb up his lap now, and did so, but he couldn't really do anything as Keisuke was still in Naruto's arms.

He pouted after a while when he didn't get his way and sat down beside Naruto looking at him and Keisuke, his arms folded over his chest in protest.

"Do you know when Keisuke is hungry?" Naruto asked the boy, but he just huffed.

"It _has_ become quite still now, hasn't it," Eri remarked softly behind her hand as she spoke to Ryomaru. Ryomaru grinned shyly.

"Hm," Naruto looked outside. Perhaps this mission wasn't that bad, but he would make Tsunade pay for this and he now had all the time to think up a way of how he would do that.

Eri and Ryomaru slowly started walking around the room and the next one, not sure what to do now and deciding it was best to just stay alert for anything.

Eri began to wonder if this really had been a C-rank mission and asked Ryomaru so when they were in the other room.

"They are noblemen and they most likely paid a bit more money for such a mission then necessary so Hokage-sama has to make it into a higher ranked mission than she would for a similar mission that paid less."

Eri nodded. He was right, this seemed more like a D-rank mission to her. "Seems reasonable." She looked up to Ryomaru. "Well, I must say that this brings new possibilities and easy money…" she grinned, knowing full well that Naruto could hear her.

-x-

The rest of the day went by quite peacefully with the exception of one tantrum from Daisuke when he thought he didn't get enough attention and said he would only stop when he could have Naruto's tail. Or so Ryomaru translated the screaming to the rest. Naruto hadn't given in as he'd grown too attached to his extra appendage over the years.

Luckily Ryomaru could talk Daisuke out of it just in time as Keisuke was about to join his brother in making some noise.

"No wonder she wanted to get away from those kids," Kenji said.

"Well, she made them the way they are herself," Eri replied. "She should let them play with other children."

"Hm," Kenji agreed.

When Izayui came back very late that evening, she'd accused Naruto of killing her baby when she saw him lying still in his arms. Only because her husband was there, she refrained from scratching Naruto's eyes out. At that moment Keisuke woke up and began to look around curiously and most importantly, very quietly.

"My baby-waby," Izayui began to mumble to the baby and Naruto handed her son over to her.

They quickly said their goodbyes and left the house before Keisuke would begin to cry again.

And before they would split up to their homes and Naruto would pay Tsunade a visit, Naruto stopped his team.

"Don't ever tell anyone what has happened."

As the genins looked into his serious eyes, they were sure that they never would tell anyone. When Naruto was serious, he was _serious_. So they knew. He needn't to sound angry or even upset to make them promise. It was just that look in his eyes that did the trick. They wouldn't tell a soul about the baby silencing thing.

As Naruto walked over to the Hokage tower he came to realize that the mission hadn't been all that bad. Kids had their moments and even though he wasn't a father, those kids had trusted him. He wasn't sure trust was the right word, but he had no other words for it, so it had to be. Did Akira trust him as well?

He looked up to the sky. It was dark and stars sparkled. It wasn't really a matter of Akira trusting him, it was more a matter of him trusting Sasuke. Did he trust Sasuke to tell him the truth? Did he trust Sasuke with his own trust? His trust in him? He had to trust Sasuke. Sasuke was his everything. There wasn't a matter of trusting Sasuke, only Sasuke. Sasuke and him. He and Sasuke... and Akira. Sasuke. Naruto. SasukeNaruto. Sasuto... _What?_

Naruto's head hurt. He had been thinking too much again. He shook his long bangs out of his face. _Just concentrate on Tsunade's punishment, leave the painful thinking for someone else. _Yes, that sounded good.

Naruto smirked. "You're so dead baa-chan," he muttered as he jumped up the tower and finally landed on her windowsill.

His face showed a very foxy grin when things only got better as Tsunade was sleeping on her desk. It was unusually clean and there were almost no papers around. His canines showed as his grin widened and his tail swept gleefully behind him. He would make her biggest nightmare come true.

He sniggered as his fingers came together to form a seal.

-x-

Yes, Naruto had had his sweet revenge on Tsunade and sweet it had been for five whole minutes. Five! Until hell had broken loose; but it had been worth it _every single minute_.

The sun was slowly rising and after the fight that had followed Naruto's prank, Naruto was still being lectured by Tsunade. The only reason he was still here, was because even this was funny.

Tsunade had finally lowered her fists to rest on the desk and Naruto was innocently staring at her, like he had no idea what she was talking about. It only made her anger flare again and Naruto almost couldn't contain his laugh as he saw the vain on her forehead grow.

She had no idea he'd made a clone during her outburst when she'd found out what Naruto had been doing and the real Naruto was safely sitting on her head on the Hokage monument listening to every word she yelled at his clone.

Naruto realized he had a strange kind of humour, but this was just funny. She had no idea. Naruto smiled as he heard his clone break out into a laughing fit.

He looked up to the rising sun. It was a good time for Konoha to wake up.

"NARUTO~!"

"Hai?" he said, though she would never be able to hear it from all the way over at the mountain.

A fight sounded and then his Bunshin was thrown through the window and was just able to get hold of the windowsill to stop his fall and pulled himself back up to sit in the window frame on some broken glass.

"You still haven't figured it out, baa-chan? You really _are_ getting old," he dodged another fist.

"LET ME KILL YOU!" Konoha sure had to be woken up by that.

Naruto sighed from over the Hokage monument. Suddenly he heard someone and as he turned his head to his left he saw Kakashi hunch down next to him.

"What did you do this time?"

"Nothing really, she was the one that started it."

"Hm."

Naruto sniggered again as he heard Tsunade and his clone squabble. "She has no idea she's pounding a clone."

Kakashi looked at him. "Ah, so that is the reason you still sit here and watch."

"Listen," Naruto corrected him as his ears moved on his head. Kakashi grinned.

Naruto yawned and Kakashi looked at his canines, always a bit longer than average.

"How long has this been going on?"

"All night."

"Impressive."

"Yeah, but there is not much fun left; I guess I'll initiate the last part and go home."

Kakashi said nothing and just stared at the Hokage tower, looking at a tiny Tsunade and Naruto as two ANBU men stood awkwardly in the corners of the office watching everything happen, not daring to interfere.

He saw that the clone Naruto waved his hand to Tsunade and then pointed to the monument. Tsunade turned around, very red and very angry to see what he was pointing at.

"WHAT?" Kakashi could actually hear her words of astonishment.

The Naruto next to him waved back to the Hokage and the Bunshin disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Well, see you sometime, Kakashi-sensei."

"If you're still alive."

"Don't worry; you know I'll always outrun her." With those words he disappeared.

Kakashi shook his head. Naruto was still a prankster at heart. It sure made live interesting.

* * *

><p>Naruto stared in the mirror. His hair didn't do what he told it to do.<p>

Normally he never really did anything about his hair; it just always stuck up all spiky. However when he had come from under the shower, his hair didn't really wanted to stand up. It fell around his face instead. Sasuke was right, it _was_ getting long.

He stroked his hand through his damp long hair and it fell down again.

He grumbled a bit and turned away. It would dry in the sun and would stand up again, he thought.

Before he entered the kitchen he stood still and listened to Sasuke and Akira move. Sasuke and he hadn't talked about what had happened yet, even though it had been over three weeks now since Akiharu had died; they had just been avoiding it, especially with Akira around. Naruto had of course his team to train and take on missions, but when he got home he just didn't feel like bringing it up anymore.

They seemed to be acting quite normally around each other, but there were these hints that something was off; that some things had to be said but weren't. Sakura and Kakashi surely would have noticed by now, but they had only come around sometimes when Naruto wasn't there.

Naruto sighed, this morning they probably would just act like the other ones.

He stepped into the kitchen and sat down on a chair beside Akira, who was just trying to drink up his milk.

He small boy put the half empty glass down. "Bleh."

Akira didn't really liked milk, but Sasuke told him to drink it. Naruto eyed the small boy, as Akira stared at the rest of his milk like it would attack him any moment.

Sasuke stood leaning against the counter, watching his son stare at the milk.

"Sasuke, could you make me something?" Naruto asked using a small voice.

Sasuke stared at him for a second with pursed lips, but then turned around to make him some breakfast.

Akira made another attempt at drinking his milk as he reached for the glass. Naruto glanced at Sasuke, who had his back to them and then took Akira's glass and held his finger of his other hand in front of his mouth to silence the boy.

Akira let go of the glass and Naruto drank all the milk and handed it back to Akira as he quickly wiped his mouth, making a cough out of it as Sasuke started turning back.

Akira put down the glass and made a dirty face, pretending he had just drunken the milk himself. The kid was a natural, Naruto thought.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow and handed Naruto his breakfast and turned to Akira.

The doorbell rang.

"Don't forget your bento box."

Akira stood up and took the box from the counter and put it in his bag.

"I'll be going then," he squeaked happily.

"Bye, Akira-kun, don't annoy Iruka-sensei too much."

Akira grinned, waved to his father and then ran out of the house. Akira was going to spend the day with Iruka -he had no classes today- as the teacher himself had suggested taking care of him for the day (letting Naruto and Sasuke be alone and perhaps talk things out).

"Could you get me some milk?" Naruto asked as he took a bite from his bread.

Sasuke stared at him again, this time showing his annoyance.

"It's in the fridge. I need to get some papers at the Hokage tower that I need to read."

"Fine, I don't want Tsunade no baa-chan to punch you through a wall again." He grinned. Sasuke just left.

Naruto filled a glass of milk and looked at the time. It was later then he had thought. He hastily drank his milk in one gulp and then left for the field to see how his students were faring.

-x-

It was in the afternoon and Naruto had returned home, his team had done enough for the day. They had a big mission tomorrow (Tsunade's silent revenge), a C-rank mission where they had to prepare for.

So Naruto was sitting at the table, staring at Sasuke working himself through a pile of papers. Apparently you get that when you have a kid dropped in your lap.

His hand went to his knee as he had an itch. As he scratched he noticed a gap in his trousers. He sighed.

He didn't really have anything to do anyway, so he went upstairs to put on some other pair without a hole in the knee. Perhaps he could ask Eri to fix it, he thought as he walked up the stairs.

As he had taken his pants off, he opened his shared closet with Sasuke and peered into it. When he looked at his pants-pile it turned out that there was no pants-pile. He sighed again. He hadn't done the laundry yet as Sasuke had told him the day before yesterday.

His head turned to Sasuke's side of the closet. Could he…?

Nah, Sasuke might kill him. Besides Sasuke was about fifteen centimetres longer than he was and wore full length pants as to where he wore shorter pants with bandages around his lower legs. He would have to roll up the ends of the legs of the pants.

His head turned back to his own side and his eyes stopped on his small collection of yukata's. Well, he was at home, it wouldn't matter. He took one out randomly. He chose the last one that still hung on his own side, next to Sasuke's yukata's and put it on.

This was much better then rolling up Sasuke's pants which probably were too wide as well. He looked around for the obi but couldn't find it. He looked around him on the floor, on the closet floor, but still couldn't find it. Finally he decided just to take another one; he would find it somewhere some other time.

He slid the door back in place and tied the dark blue obi loosely around his waist. As he went back downstairs he noticed he had accidentally taken an obi from Sasuke as there was a small Uchiha symbol on each end of the obi. He shrugged, he would survive.

As he entered the room he sat down at the table opposite of Sasuke. Sasuke looked up and his eyebrow rose slightly as he looked at Naruto wearing his light orange coloured yukata that was decorated with some blue vines of fern at the bottom, the left shoulder and right sleeve.

"What's that for?"

"Have to do the laundry I guess." Naruto grinned.

Sasuke stared at him like he was saying 'I told you so'. Naruto just leaned back on his arms and started looking at the ceiling.

"Then that is the first thing you should do now." Sasuke looked down onto his papers.

"Huh?" Naruto looked at him.

"_The laundry_."

"Oh, right." He stood up and went to do the laundry.

Somewhat later Naruto returned to the living room and Sasuke looked up from his work and started dividing the papers in files.

"I'm going to the market to get us some food. Are you coming?" Sasuke asked hesitantly.

"Sure." Naruto looked at Sasuke as he stood up and walked to the door and then he followed him.

On their way to the market they were rather quiet until Sasuke suddenly noticed Naruto wearing his obi.

"Why are you wearing my obi?"

"Huh?" Naruto turned to him, seeming to come out of his thoughts. "Oh, yeah, I couldn't find mine so I took another; turned out to be yours, though."

Naruto bent a little so he could look up into Sasuke's bowed face. Naruto's hair was hanging sleekly around his face as those big blue eyes looked up to him. "You gonna kill me now?"

"Hn."

Naruto grinned.

-x-

As they walked through the crowd, Naruto noticed how many people where there to do their groceries. He halted at a vegetable stand, pointing to the carrots.

"Let's take some carrots. You don't need to use them for dinner tonight; I'll just eat them like this."

Sasuke was about to say something when he was interrupted.

"Uchiha-sama." A woman with a kind face and brown hair tied up into a bun came walking to them. A small boy followed her.

"Uchiha-sama," she said again, stopping in front of Sasuke and Naruto and giving Sasuke a respectful nod. Sasuke politely gave a nod back.

Naruto was still amazed by the respect Sasuke got from all the villagers as an Uchiha. They looked up to him and always addressed him as such.

She turned to Naruto and scanned him before giving him a small nod as well. "Uchiha-san."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, but returned the nod, just to be polite. When he raised his head again he glanced at Sasuke from the corners of his eyes. He seemed unfazed, but that was because he had his emotionless face on again.

"I'm Tamura Kaguya, Hikaru's mother." She looked down at the boy beside her. "He plays a lot with Akira-kun on the playground."

Sasuke nodded again, having heard the name.

"I heard from Hikaru that he hadn't invited Akira-kun to his birthday party this Friday yet. So I promised him I would ask you for permission."

Naruto turned his head to Sasuke, to look what kind of decision he was about to make. Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest.

As Naruto looked at Sasuke he could tell from the look on Sasuke's face that he was about to turn the offer off, but then…

"All right, but I would like to come over to your house before Friday to check it out."

The woman looked up a bit surprised as did Naruto, but he hid it quickly.

"Ah, Sasuke is a very protective father," Naruto said, trying to ease the woman. He put some hairs behind his ear that had fallen in his face and kindly smiled at Kaguya as he stood against Sasuke.

Sasuke stared at Naruto as if saying 'where was that good for?' and Naruto just gave him a small smile in return.

"Thank you Uchiha-sama for your politeness. Hikaru is much delighted, as am I. I will look forward to your visit."

"Okay."

The woman bowed and was about to turn away, when she turned back. The boy looked up in confusion, wondering what his mother wanted to do now.

"Oh, I didn't notice at first."

Sasuke and Naruto looked at her, no idea what she was talking about.

"I see you are expecting, how wonderful.' She pointed to Naruto's stomach as his yukata fell a bit loosely so it might seem like he had a small extended belly.

"Wha-?" Naruto started, no idea what she was talking about, but she continued.

"I think Akira-kun will be most delighted to have a little brother or sister and you must be so happy as well."

Naruto's mouth was about to drop open, but all he could manage was blink at her and Sasuke seemed to be frozen in place as well.

"I wish you the best with your pregnancy. You are a fine mother," she added while smiling at Naruto. This time she turned away and walked off with her son.

Naruto was frozen. Hadn't she recognized him? She had thought him to be a woman? And even worse_, she'd thought he was pregnant? _

Finally he felt Sasuke move beside him as he stroked some of his blond hair out of his face that had fallen from behind his ear again.

"Come, dear, let's go home," the tall raven said as he put his arm around Naruto's waist.

"EH! Sasuke?" Naruto shrieked, this time his mouth _was_ falling open.

Sasuke gave him a gentle smile that almost seemed to catch Naruto in a genjutsu. It was a sincere and beautiful smile and Naruto just couldn't get angry at him.

"If you ever tell anyone…" he threatened softly as they walked away to another stand, feeling slightly uncomfortable and blushing.

"I know," Sasuke pulled him closer, "I won't."

-x-

They had left the market with a small bag of groceries and were now walking close to the border of Konoha. Suddenly Sasuke stopped and turned to Naruto.

"Let's go make a walk through the forest."

Naruto looked at him and seemed to understand what Sasuke was planning. He wanted to talk things out, finally, but in a place no one would bother them, or hear them.

Naruto nodded and followed Sasuke into the forestry and as they walked over the dead leaves and branches on the ground Naruto began to understand how inconvenient wearing a yukata was in such an environment. Things were hanging at the hem of his clothing.

He sighed. "Sasuke? Do I really seem like a woman in this?" he couldn't help it, he needed to know.

Sasuke looked around and looked him over. "Perhaps."

_What was that for an answer?_ "Perhaps?" Naruto asked, his eyebrow twitching.

"Well, not really."

Naruto was beginning to get annoyed. Why didn't Sasuke just tell him he didn't look like a woman at all? Naruto stopped walking. "You think I look like a woman? You also think I could act like a mother for _your_ child?" It had come out before he'd known it. He couldn't help it; he just had to say what had been bothering him for a while now.

"Of course not, don't say things like that. It's not like I chose for this to happen."

"Neither did I, but at least I wasn't the one to go to bed with-"

"It's not like it was just for fun or anything!"

"You were forced then?"

"Not really, but-" Sasuke trailed off.

"But what, Sasuke? Did you had to do it or, or what?"

"It's complicated."

"Then explain it to me, Sasuke? Right now I don't know what to think of it at all?"

Sasuke sighed. "We weren't really forced, but it wasn't completely willingly either." Naruto stared back, waiting for further explanation. It didn't come. "It happened okay? I can't turn it around."

"Once?"

"Once, Naruto."

"And she got pregnant from-?"

"Apparently."

Naruto stared at him.

"Naruto, you know that when you are travelling with Orochimaru you are not just a human. He gave me medicine and drugs too. Who knows what she might have had to take."

"Sure, sure. But that doesn't make up for the fact that you never told me! All that time I thought we… I…"

"Naruto, I never told you, because it has never meant anything to me. I wanted our first time to be the first time. My first time."

"You just pretended that for me?" Naruto mocked.

"Yes... no, for myself. Naruto if I had known, I would-"

"You would have told me if you had known? Come on, Sasuke."

"That's not what I meant."

"Then what, Sasuke?" Naruto took a breath to calm down a bit. "What else do you need to tell me that happened during your ti-"

"Nothing Naruto. I told you everything you absolutely needed to know. I don't like talking about that time, but that doesn't mean I keep it all secret-"

"Than what is this we're discussing now? Not important?"

Sasuke's anger was rising very fast now as well. "Naruto I really didn't know. I really was shocked when Akiharu told me. I was afraid, afraid of what it meant, of what you might say. Afraid of how to be a father for that boy. Afraid to have family again." Slowly his eyes began to get damp. He couldn't help it; Naruto just didn't want to understand what this had done to _him_ as well.

"It's just that…" Naruto looked down at the forest floor. "I feel like I've been tricked. You never said anything about this woman. I really don't like that, but… but I thought we had… we had finally agreed, accepted, that we would never have children and then that boy-"

"Don't blame Akira."

"I'm not blaming him!"

"No, you're blaming me, I already know that!"

"Good, then you at least know something about me!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know!" Naruto kicked against a rock and it shot in the direction of Sasuke. The gesture didn't go unnoticed as it barely missed the raven.

"You're not the only one who has a hard time with this!" He picked a shuriken and itched to throw it, but let it slip back into his weapons pouch.

"Sure, because you just lost a very dear _friend_!" Naruto hadn't really known where that had come from, but rage was quite figuratively blinding him. However it was the final straw that did it to Sasuke.

"Why do I even bother explaining this to you?" He jumped away onto a branch and out of sight.

"Yeah, just run away from your problems, that seems to be the easiest thing to do!" Naruto shouted after him, knowing he couldn't run after Sasuke in the tree's with his yukata (even though he would have liked to). He turned away and began scuffing around the dead leaves, kicking at rocks and things.

After what seemed like quite a while he finally stopped and sat down on a fallen tree trunk, grabbing his head in his hands. He couldn't believe half the things he had said. Yes, of course he'd said things he'd wanted to say; that he could say, could ask and even accuse Sasuke with, but not all. Some things hadn't even held a meaning when he thought back.

He clenched his fists. Why hadn't Sasuke really explained why he hadn't told him or what had happened?

He growled. He hated fights with Sasuke, because of this. He felt like he had done wrong, but at the same time could kick Sasuke's butt all over Konoha. He was so angry he completely lost sight of his surroundings. He just sat there, clenching and unclenching his fists, muttering angry things to himself.

He didn't even notice with his good hearing how a group of ninja was slowly surrounding him. Only when it was too late he saw them jumping on him. Five men were holding him to the ground while another pushed a needle of a syringe into his side, which actually hurt.

He tried to wriggle free or at least his hands so he could make a Bunshin, but his limps weren't really responding as they should.

"We just gave you some very poisonous stuff that will make even you unable to move," the ninja with the syringe grinned as he pulled the thing out of his side.

Naruto growled. "Who are you? W-what do you w-want?" His mouth was getting numb.

"We'll be sure to let you know, later. When we are sure you are tied up. Hahaha." He signed another man to tie Naruto up and take him away.

Naruto was only able to follow where they were going for a few minutes as he had been blindfolded and with the poison he wasn't in his best shape.

"Don't worry, we will not let you die, you're too valuable for that," the same voice as before told him, but Naruto could not even tell if it came from his left or from his right. He felt like vomiting and he might have, he couldn't remember as everything went black.

-oXo-

A/N: Sasuke would have liked children, but doesn't know how to take care of them... I know, confusing, but I think of it like this: he would like to have children to have a family or even revive his clan, but he never really thought about how it would actually be like with a child around. He's not good with children (or so he thinks) so he never really imagined what it would be like to have his own child running around, or you know probably had unrealistic fantasies about having perfect children or something ^^

So next: _what happened to Naruto?_


	9. Chapter 9: The search

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sensei.

Thank you all for reviewing!

-oXo-

**Chapter 9: The search**

_Month of June _

It had been a day since their fight, but Sasuke began to think it had become a bit ridiculous for Naruto to stay away this long. Of course Sasuke hadn't even bothered to go look for him. He'd first let his rage run free in the woods and had then picked up Akira from Iruka's place.

He hadn't expected Naruto to come home that day or not even before the following morning, but it was already 17:00 and he still wasn't home. Sasuke's anger toward Naruto had prevented him from telling anyone they'd been in a fight.

Right now Sakura was passing by to check how things were with Akira, when she asked where Naruto was. Sasuke had finally told her about their fight and that he still hadn't come home.

Sakura sighed. "I'll go look for him." And with that she had left.

That evening she had come again, together with Sai, Kakashi and Shizune. They had all been looking for Naruto, but had not found him. However they had found a place in the forest, near the place where Sasuke had told Sakura they'd had the fight, where there were some traces of someone trying to undo the place from tracks.

"What do you mean? That some ninja's took Naruto? I don't believe that."

"Sasuke-kun, you know that you both were upset. These guys seem to be experts in taking, abducting, people. They probably knew how to take out Naruto. Even though Naruto is hard to be drugged and can handle a lot of pain, doesn't mean he is invulnerable to poisons and a sword through his gut." Sasuke stared at Sakura. "We didn't find any traces of blood, but even though Naruto is a great ninja, doesn't mean nothing can happen to him."

Sasuke sighed. "Were you able to follow the hidden tracks?" he asked Kakashi.

"No, it's already too dark to see them but my ninken are trying to sniff them out."

Sasuke sat down on the couch. "That dobe."

"Is Akira-kun already in bed?" Shizune asked. Sasuke nodded. "I will stay here to make sure he's alright. You all can go look for him."

"Thank you," Sasuke softly said to Shizune as they all left the house.

"Sure, just find that crazy boy."

* * *

><p>The traces they had found had led to a nearby village and there it had disappeared. They had asked around if people had seen something suspicious, but they had soon found out that this was a kind of village where everything was suspicious, making it all normal. So they broadened their search area.<p>

Having Sai with them was very convenient because he could easily keep in contact with Tsunade through his drawings and ink messages.

* * *

><p>Naruto was being dragged and finally thrown on the floor. His limbs felt like they were sleeping, he wasn't sure if he was moving them, and he felt some saliva coming from his mouth, but he couldn't do anything about it.<p>

Being as disorientated as he was, he was glad to be lying on the floor, having a good reference point to what was up and what was down. Even though his eyes were still blindfolded, everything seemed to be spinning and moving like he was on a ship or something.

"Boss, we got him," said the man who had been in charge.

"Finally." A silky, but creepy voice echoed through the hall they were in.

A few men pushed and pulled Naruto around until he was on his knees and they pushed down on his back so he would stay that way. Someone grabbed his long hair and pulled up his head. The he pulled on one of his fox ears.

"You see?"

Naruto wanted to growl, but he couldn't even do that.

"Yes, good, good," the silky voice said happily. "How long is that poison going to work?"

"Normally about a month; with him probably three weeks."

"Good, good." Naruto heard the so-called boss wring his hands together. "Make sure you tie him up so he won't escape."

"Hai."

And again Naruto was being dragged away. After a few turns in the hallway they were walking, the man in charge began to laugh. "You know what's so funny?" He asked Naruto, but Naruto had no intension of replying; not that he could. "This poison that we gave you doesn't kill. It merely makes sure the prisoner won't escape."

They rounded another corner. Naruto began to feel like he had to vomit.

"Do you know where we got this poison from?" he asked. He sounded like he really enjoyed this. After the silence from Naruto he continued. "It took a while to get it, but it comes from Konoha itself. From the Umu poison makers' family."

Naruto almost gasped, he would have if he could. That was Ryomaru's family, but they only traded poison inside Konoha. Not with other villages. How did they get their hands on it?

The man laughed, not knowing the connection between the poison maker's son and Naruto, but because of the irony of him being poisoned by his 'own' poison. When the man stopped laughing, they also stopped moving.

"Tie him up boys, and make sure he will not escape."

* * *

><p>Sasuke really wanted to pace up and down the living room, but he wasn't really such a person. So he sat quietly on the couch. Akira was sitting at the low table, making a drawing.<p>

Sakura had practically threatened him to go home to his son. He was alone with Shizune and even though he made friends very quickly, he needed his father. He hadn't been in Konoha for that long yet and he needed some stability.

Eventually Sasuke had understood she was right and right at the moment that even Kakashi was about to join the conversation he turned around and had gone back to Konoha.

As he sat on the couch, appearing to be calm, he watched Akira as he was drawing. The drawing consisted of a bunch of coloured lines and spots.

He couldn't help but think about the last information they had gained. They had met a farmer that had told them about the 'Treasure Hunter'. This so-called hunter used to be a ninja, but hadn't been faring very well, so he had turned traitor. He was spoiled and started to collect special items and apparently also people. He liked to have a lot of possessions. He also oppressed this farmer and some other farmers in that area, just to feel wealthy.

The farmer had given them some locations where the hunter might be.

Sasuke wanted to know how his team and Sai were doing.

He wanted to know how Naruto was doing. Where he was-

Suddenly Akira was pulling his sleeve.

"Look what I drawed!"

"Drew," Sasuke corrected him and took the drawing from his son and looked at it.

-x-

Akira was looking outside at the rain as it poured. He almost couldn't see anything, it was that grey.

"You want to play a game, tou-san?" He calmly asked Sasuke as he looked up from a book. "It's really fun. I get something from the house and you have to guess what it is."

Sasuke simply stared back.

"I'll show you and then you can say if you want to play it again or not, okay?"

Sasuke nodded and laid down his book as Akira ran out of the room upstairs. When he came back he held something under his shirt and sat down at the table opposite of Sasuke and laid the object from under his shirt on the ground under the table.

"So, what do I have to do?"

"Ask questions like 'Is it round?' or 'Is it old?' and I'll answer them with a yes or a no. And then when you think you know what it is you ask."

"How many questions can I ask?"

"Until you know what it is."

"Okay." Sasuke shuffled a bit closer to the table. "Is it yours?"

"Hm, sort of."

That wasn't a yes or no, but Sasuke decided not to say anything about it.

"Is it made of wood?"

"No."

"Stone?"

"Yes."

He still didn't know what it was then. "Is it blue?"

"No."

Sometime later Sasuke had found out it was an almost round, red object probably from stone. It wasn't that big and not heavy either. But he was getting a bit irritated as he had no idea what it was since it was probably Akira's and he didn't knew about all the things he had.

"I give up," he said eventually.

"Really? You have to do the next object then."

"Okay, I will."

Akira pulled out the object from under the table and laid it on top of it. Sasuke stared at it. He'd never seen it before, but it was an 8 cm high statue in the shape of a small samurai warrior. It seemed very old as it was a bit damaged. Small pieces had been broken off from the ruby-like massive stone.

"I've never seen this before," Sasuke told his chibi son.

Akira looked up to him. "Really? Oh, I thought you had. It was kaa-chan's. She got it last year."

Sasuke picked up the statue to take a better look. It probably was very valuable, but Sasuke had no interest in such things so he gave it back to Akira. Akiharu however had liked to collect knick-knacs.

"Now you have to get something." Akira smiled and closed his eyes.

Sasuke got up and went looking around for something easy to guess. When he was looking into the bookcase he suddenly found something he had almost forgotten about. His hand went to it and closed around the small object and he took it out.

He opened his hand and in his palm lay a small dark blue stone. It held the shape of an eagle. He grinned.

It suddenly seemed so long ago Akira had arrived and came to live with them… with Naruto and him. He really missed Naruto, but he wouldn't allow himself to think about him like that, he just didn't think he could bear it if he finally realised what was going on. Besides, they would find Naruto! Now he could just pretend he was on a long mission or something.

Sasuke closed his eyes and sighed. He wanted to feel Naruto's hands on his back, over his body; his lips touching his. He wanted to move his hands through blond spikes and scratch his ears. He wanted to-

"Tou-san? Are you ready yet?"

"Yes, I got something, let me put it under the table first."

He sat down and kept the small stone in his hand, but pretended to lay something under the table.

"Ready." He didn't think it would take Akira that long to guess it, but he wanted not to take too long and he didn't wanted Akira to not be able to guess it.

* * *

><p>Sakura was glad she was back in Konoha again and could get back to her own bed for a couple of days. Kakashi and Sai were back as well. The farmer's information had turned out to be false addresses the Treasure Hunter had given to him.<p>

Sakura punched her pillow. They were back to where they had started; with nothing. Where could they have taken Naruto and why was this Hunter so hard to find?

She sighed as she thought about how team 8 had taken over their search for her teammate. As soon as they found something Tsunade would let her know.

She turned around to lie on her back. She was finally lying in a normal bed, her own bed again and _now_ she couldn't sleep. She hated it.

Suddenly a though came to her mind. It wasn't an amazing idea, but it would settle her mind a bit, so she thought.

She stood up and dressed herself. She would go and see Tsunade about it. The Hokage wouldn't mind her idea though; she knew that.

A few hours later she had been proven right and was standing on training ground 4 with Naruto's team 9 in front of her.

"Sakura-san? Can we ask what is going on?" Eri asked politely, twisting one of her braids around her finger.

"I'm going to train you today. I guess you are probably getting sick from all the boring D-rank missions you have to do."

"Very bored," Kenji stated dryly. Sakura grinned.

"S-Sakura-sensei?" Ryomaru asked, fiddling with the border of his red and white long sleeve.

"Yes, Ryomaru-kun?"

"H-how is the search for Naruto-sensei going?" Suddenly all three genin looked up, all wanting to know the answer no one was telling them.

Sakura looked down for a second. "I'm not sure what you have been told, but Naruto has been abducted by some guy that likes to... 'collect' special items."

"And people?" Eri asked, which earned her some angry stares from her teammates as she interrupted Sakura.

"Apparently," Sakura said, giving them a sad smile. "We still don't know where he is, but we are still looking for him."

"Is it because of his…" Eri brought her hands up to her head and indicated Naruto's ears with her fingers as she bit her lip.

"Partly, yes," Sakura admitted, she didn't know what Naruto had told them about that, if anything at all.

"Oh," she said sadly. Apparently he hadn't told them about the Kyuubi.

Eri got tears in her eyes and Ryomaru swung carefully an arm around the smaller girl. Eri suddenly hugged him, she was quite the touching and hugging kind of girl.

Sakura walked up to her and saw how even Kenji held some kind of pity in his eyes when he looked at the girl, his arms loosely crossed.

"Don't worry, Eri-chan, we are the best team of Konoha, remember? We will find him."

Eri slowly let a stunned Ryomaru go, who was all red in the face, and dried her tears. She noddedand slowly looked up to Sakura.

"You're such a cry-baby," Kenji muttered, but Sakura knew he didn't really mean it. He just had trouble being in the presence of a crying girl and by provoking her he hoped she would return to normal, or at least a different emotion, which he had succeeded in.

Bang. She hit him on his head.

"Baka," she said silently, but a small teary smile appeared on her face.

"Good, let's get to training and tomorrow I'll fix you a nice C-rank mission."

"Really?" Kenji asked as he was still rubbing the back of his head.

"Really."

Ryomaru smiled.

"Let's go team, don't expect me to go soft on you because of my relation with Naruto." Sakura's words would be understood in a different way than she had meant them.

"Hai, Sakura-sensei," Ryomaru's voice sounded. Eri and Kenji looked at him with raised eyebrows. Ryomaru stubbornly stayed staring toward Sakura.

"I didn't hear you?"

And now Eri and Kenji understood what was going on. "Hai, Sakura-sensei."

Sakura smiled. She could see why Naruto liked his team so much, but she would teach them some respect, something Naruto lacked and therefore couldn't teach them; even though she had seen some small changes in his doings lately and especially toward Tsunade.

"Show me what you can do, by sparring against each other." Team 9 quickly hurried over to the middle of the field, very happy to be training again.

* * *

><p>Sasuke was sitting on the bench at the playground as Akira was playing with some other kids in the sand. He was reading a book when suddenly Kakashi sat down next to him.<p>

Stunned at the appearance of his sensei in such a place Sasuke lowered his book.

"He's doing quite alright I see," Kakashi said as he looked to Akira running around after another boy.

"He makes friends quite easily."

Silence fell as they watched the kids play.

"Heard anything about Naruto yet?"

"No, team 8 will send the information they got; it's expected to come in tomorrow. We'll see what will happen then," Kakashi said. Sasuke's mouth curved up a little. "I just came from a meeting with Hokage-sama. Shizune wants to let you know she is happy to look after Akira once more if you go away again."

"Good. I don't think he minds that. He likes her giving him medical lessons."

"Really." Kakashi leant back against the bench.

They just sat there for quite a while when Sakura also crossed their paths along with team 9, seemingly exhausted. When she saw Kakashi and Sasuke she came walking over to them.

"You guys can go home now," she told team 9, "You did a great job at your mission."

Eri beamed, Ryomaru carefully smiled and Kenji stuck up his chest arrogantly.

"Bye, Sakura-sensei," they told her as they walked away, trying not to appear to tired in front of Kakashi and Sasuke.

Sakura sat down on the bench next to Kakashi.

"Any news?" she asked. Kakashi told her what he had just told Sasuke.

"Good."

"I see you took over Naruto's team for a while," Kakashi glanced at the rosette.

"I did, it felt like the right thing to do. They also miss him."

The sun was slowly going down and team Kakashi still sat on the bench. Parents had come to pick up their children and soon they had all left. Akira waved goodbye to an orange-blond girl and her mother before running back to his father.

"Hello, Akira-kun," Sakura said.

"Sakura-san, Kakashi-san," Akira politely greeted them. He turned to Sasuke and tried to climb up his lap. Sasuke picked him up and he just sat quietly on Sasuke's lap, leaning against his chest looking at the sun.

"Tou-san, what are we eating?" he suddenly asked.

Sasuke didn't respond immediately, he hadn't been thinking about dinner at all.

"You can all come to eat at my place," Sakura proposed.

"Yeah! Can I help with cutting vegetables?"

"Of course you can."

-x-

The next day Sasuke left together with Izumo and Koketsu. Akira would stay over at Sakura's place; Sakura had offered to let him stay. When they would go as a team again he would go to Shizune. Besides Sasuke had just been send to follow a side track team 8 had found, so they didn't expect to find anything; it had to be checked nonetheless.

Koketsu pointed to a small house as he was hiding behind a corner a little further away. Sasuke was sitting on the roof of said house and peered down to Izumo as he walked to the house with a Henge up. He was a small boy with a baseball bat. He knocked on the door of the house and waited.

A heavy man opened the door. It seemed like he barely fitted through the doorframe.

"What?" he asked rudely as he looked down to the apparent small kid.

"My baseball, it accidentally landed in your garden."

"So?"

"Could I get it back?"

"No, beat it!"

"But-" the door was slammed in his face. Izumo looked to Koketsu, who gave the signal to Sasuke, before he left the house and the street.

So Izumo hadn't seen anything suspicious inside the house and now Sasuke would take a closer look inside the house. He almost invisibly climbed in through an open window and stood in the attic. It looked like a normal attic, a lot of junk and dust. There was nothing suspicious about it. Carefully he descended the stairs and checked all the rooms.

Nothing.

He came downstairs and saw the fat man in his living room as he looked out the window to some children on the street. In the kitchen Sasuke found something interesting as he looked into the garden of the man. He hadn't been able to see it from the roof, but there was a huge golden plate hanging inside in a shed at the end of the garden. It seemed very valuable.

Sasuke slowly turned back to the stairs and found a door under it. He glanced over to the man to see he still hadn't noticed him and opened the door. There was a stair behind it and Sasuke descended it quietly.

When he came downstairs he knew they had found something. All kinds of treasures and antiques were neatly and carefully placed in this overly decorated room.

This man must have gotten these things from someone as he didn't seem like a robber himself from what Sasuke had seen in his house.

When he was back on the roof he gave the signal to Koketsu and the three of them entered the house. Sasuke led them into the basement and there they would interrogate the man. He actually didn't need much convincing.

He told them how he handled in this stuff and when they mentioned the Treasure Hunter he told them he had never seen him personally, but that he had done business with the man before.

"How can we contact him?"

"He always contacts me."

"_How_ can we find him?" Sasuke asked more threateningly as his Sharingan spun in his eyes. The fat man backed off, for as far as he could.

"I-I think- I think there is some guy at the p-postal office in the next village that knows- that knows how to contact someone that…" he took a deep breath as he had turned slightly purple.

Izumo took a step forward after the man stayed silent, a kunai in hand.

"That guy he knows is probably the Treasure Hunter's right hand, b-but that's what I heard. I-I'm not sure that it's t-true."

"Good. Now tell me about that postal office and that guy that works there." Sasuke leaned closer to the fat man as he was heavily transpiring.

"I will!"

* * *

><p>Sasuke woke up when he felt someone standing beside him.<p>

"What?" he asked drowsily.

"I-," Akira looked up into his eyes as they slowly opened.

Sasuke sat upright and looked down onto the boy.

"I couldn't sleep. It's cold." He couldn't see Sasuke's face that well, but he hoped he wouldn't get mad. "Can I-? Can I sleep with you?" he asked softly.

Sasuke looked down at the boy. Normally he wouldn't allow him to get into the bed, but he couldn't help but feel a bit lonely himself without Naruto around. He shifted a little to his left and held up the blanket so Akira could crawl under it.

Akira carefully smiled and climbed into the bed and lay down on the still warm spot where his father had lain.

"I miss them," he softly said. Sasuke looked into teal eyes as they looked back into his own. "I miss kaa-chan." He fumbled with the blanket. "And I miss Naruto."

Sasuke laid his arm around his small son and pushed him against his chest. He really was cold.

"He'll come back."

"You think so?" Akira asked softly.

"I know so." He _had_ to!

* * *

><p>Sakura held the bartender firmly by his throat. She wasn't in the mood of playing games anymore. She'd been travelling for days without much sleep and lack of a nice bath. She was tired and she absolutely hated it when men told her to calm down in such situations. Why would she calm down? It is only natural for a woman to want to get enough sleep and feel clean! How men can underestimate this, she didn't know. But what was even worse was that he'd talked to her like she was some slut he could order around.<p>

"Now tell me where the Treasure Hunter is!" she asked with venom in her voice. Kakashi just stood casually leaning against the bar as Sakura threatened the man, who seemed to be about ready to wet himself.

"O-o... alright," he spluttered. Sasuke could tell the man was normally no wimp. He was a well build man, very tough and was used to have everything in control. However it was very satisfactory to see this man brought down to his knees by a woman, so to speak as he was currently more hanging a bit above the ground than touching it.

"What?" Sakura asked, grasping his throat more firmly.

"Ple-ase, I'll... tell you... e-every-thing," he wheezed.

Sakura narrowed her eyes before she let him drop to the ground. "If you lie to me, I will personally come back and kill you in your sleep," she growled and her eyes flared with anger. The bartender scampered at that.

Sasuke was actually quite impressed by Sakura's skills. He hadn't thought she had it in her, but then again, Sakura wasn't a woman to play around with.

"I-I won't, I promise." His voice had turned into a very high, nervous pinch.

"You better not!" Sakura threatened and Sasuke believed the man had actually wet himself just now.

The bartender seemed to be the right man to... threaten, because he seemed to be quite good 'friends' with the Treasure Hunter.

Kakashi lazily looked around at the customers, who were either trying to be very quiet and invisible or were standing to see what was happening, hoping for a fight to start.

Sakura's knuckles made a sound as she held her fist in the other hand. The bartender became a tint paler and swallowed heavily as he quickly proceeded telling Sakura where she could find the man.

"Really, Sakura, did you have to make him wet himself?" Sasuke smirked.

"The stench was horrible," Kakashi added.

"I can't believe the things he said to me," Sakura said angry as she cracked her knuckles again.

"At least he won't be saying that to any woman again soon."

"I sure hope not." Sakura wiped a piece of hair out of her face.

"I don't think he will be able to. Sakura you went a little overboard, don't you think?" Kakashi looked down at his student.

"He deserved every hit."

"I think you did more than hitting him," Sasuke said.

"He did talk when I was finished, didn't he?"

Sasuke smirked. "I never said what you did was wrong." He had quite enjoyed it in fact.

"Let's stop talking about it; I still get angry thinking about it. Let's go find Naruto before I actually kill someone."

"Yes, let's get Naruto back home."

_Naruto._

-oXo-

A/N: next chap will be up soon, in a couple of days :) Prepare yourself!


	10. Chapter 10: Pain

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sensei.

-oXo-

**Chapter 10: Pain**

_8__th__ of July_

He was in pain, a lot of pain, but it weren't the nails that bound his hands beside his head or the tightly, constricting ropes around his body. It was the fox's doing. Naruto was hungry. This simple fact had a dangerous effect on Naruto.

Hanging on a wall for a month only getting some bread and water wasn't much to survive but enough for the average person. Seeing Naruto was far from average he needed a third ingredient: meat.

Since the whole seal happening two years ago Naruto had never done without meat for over a week, perhaps only once or twice. The consequences hadn't been pleasant for him.

It wasn't comfortable to not have eaten meat for over a week, but a month was just unbearable. Naruto felt himself losing to the fox's craving of meat. His fangs were abnormally long and he had constant slit pupils, though most of the time his eyes still held his own colour. He shivered uncontrollably and had weird visions of him ripping someone's throat off.

Suddenly his guard entered the small 2 by 2 metre room, along with his boss, the man that had given the orders to capture Naruto.

"You look like you're in pain," he smiled showing his overly white teeth. He wiped some of his sleek blue hair nonchalantly out of his face.

Naruto growled in reply. It seemed like that was all he could do these last days. He hadn't been able to produce a single word and it had frustrated him, but above all it had scared him.

"But I think your guard over here is right; you're not in pain because of your bindings or because of the lack of food. And on top of that the poison has already stopped doing its work weeks ago."

At first the poison had stopped Naruto from being able to do much about an escape and when that had worn off he'd been weakened so much he still hadn't been able to do anything. Besides that there were seals plastered over the walls that prevented him from using and even making chakra. On top of that the guard hadn't dared to feed Naruto any longer since last week, as Naruto was now beginning to bite out when people came to close because of his hunger.

"So I let him take some nice things in here to make you suffer some more." He sighed and his long blue hair fell forward. "If only we knew what made you like this. Why does it seem you are becoming more and more like that valuable fox inside of you?"

Those had been the words Naruto had feared and although he was losing his mind to the fox, this definitely reached his brain. He sucked in some air and the blue-haired man eyed him closely.

"Begin with another nail, will you," he said and signed with his hand to his subordinate.

"Hai." The man took out a rather long nail and a hammer from a sack he had placed on the ground. He walked to Naruto's left side, the side that was closest to him and the door. Naruto felt himself snap at the man, who retreated a bit. Naruto looked quite like a wild animal with his ears flat on his head, long canines, fearsome growl and pronounced whiskers. His tail had been tied as well, but the hairs were standing on end.

"Come on, he can't reach you, Sakko."

Sakko placed the nail on Naruto's left arm, in the middle of his lower arm. He took the hammer and began slamming the nail into Naruto's flesh until it would hit the wood behind him.

Naruto growled in pain and the blue-haired man smiled in satisfaction. He couldn't stand it that Naruto's pain wasn't because of his doing. He, the widely feared Treasure Hunter, would make that man suffer and let him scream in pain because _he_ had said so.

Sakko was placing a few more nails in Naruto's lower arm, not letting them all go through and through. Blood was sipping on the ground and the Treasure Hunter was satisfied; for now.

"That's enough, let's go. We'll come back in a couple of hours." He turned around and left the small room. Sakko took the sack and dragged it out of the prison.

Naruto went crazy inside, he needed meat and all he could smell was his own blood. He couldn't stand it. He tried to reach for his arm and he licked some of his own blood. As soon as he realised what he was doing he stopped, looking shocked.

The pain in his arm became worse as the wounds tried to heal themselves. But as they couldn't close, the wounds would stitch onto the nails. With each small movement he could feel the nails get loose from the flesh, reopening the wounds. It had been the same with the nails in his hands.

All Naruto wanted was to be with Sasuke. How could he have been so angry about something as small as that he had not told him that he had been with a woman before? It certainly felt like a small thing right now.

Naruto sighed and moaned as he felt another meat craving. Perhaps he could take a bite out of Sasuke when he got here.

Naruto's head flew up. No, he wasn't really thinking that, it had been the fox, but Naruto knew the fox had been tightly sealed away. He hadn't even heard the slightest sound of him since, only when he had gone to the fox by himself.

This side of him that was reacting to the meat cravings really was a part of him. He'd partly fused with the fox and this was now how he was. These thoughts didn't make things easier though.

"S-Sasu... ke."

-o-o-o-

"Sasuke, are you sure this is the right way?" Sakura asked as they ran between giant toadstools.

"Yes, I can feel he's close."

They had heard from the bartender that this so-called Treasure Hunter had many hideouts in the land of stone, but there was only one place he came back to a lot. When they had come closer Sasuke had felt that this time they were on the right path.

He'd had to miss Naruto for so long now, he was sure he would have gone crazy if there hadn't been leads to get to him, some traces of who had taken him. He was sure that if they found Naruto all safe and would return him home he would hug his teammates that had helped him. Okay, hugging was a bit too much, but he would do something to show them he'd appreciated their support.

The sun was going under and they would soon need to stop their search. This hideout where the Hunter stayed probably wasn't found that easily in the dark. They could very well pass it and not even know it. They could not risk that.

But that wasn't what was on Sasuke's mind. All he could think of was Naruto and how much he wanted to see him again. He could hardly sleep without the blond next to him and he couldn't bear waking up without Naruto lying on top of his upper body, the purring vibrating into his chest. He missed Naruto stroking his chin right before he would try to make fun of him, how he stared at him as Sasuke was reading or how he closed his eyes as he listened to Sasuke reading out loud, with a tiny smile on his face.

Naruto was his other half. No, Naruto was him and he was Naruto, they were one, there were no halves!

Sasuke began shaking from anger and frustration. His thoughts only became worse the closer they got to him. He would kill that Treasure Hunter. Perhaps killing was too gentle- he would slice off some very valuable limbs to show him how he felt. Yes, that sounded reasonable.

Sakura gave him a concerned look as she saw his teeth clench tightly together and his hands curled up into fists.

"Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke didn't answer, but he was able to pay more attention to his surroundings. '_Naruto, I'm coming!_'

* * *

><p>The door of his tiny cell burst open, but Naruto didn't open his eyes, he couldn't. He was afraid of what he might do.<p>

"Naruto," came a breathless soft voice.

The person moved away from him. _Good_.

"He's here! Naruto is here!" The kind woman's voice called.

Immediately two men entered the room. Naruto still hung motionless against the wall, snarling softly. Suddenly he felt a hand on his stomach.

Naruto's eyes opened. Red eyes were starring back, scarlet, vicious, with bloodlust filled eyes. Naruto growled louder as Sasuke reached out his hand in the direction of Naruto's face. Naruto snapped at him and Sasuke pulled his hand back.

Sasuke looked Naruto over; nails were cruelly hammered in his left lower arm and in his hands. Blood had been staining his orange yukata that he was still wearing. Ropes were tightly bound around his body to make sure he couldn't move. His fangs were reaching halfway his chin, the whisker marks on his face were more pronounced, he had red slitted eyes. His lips had a dark line on them, his ears lay flat, his fingernails were long claws, and there was a constant growl. His hair had grown a lot and was way too long, though still as spiky as ever. He looked wild was the first thing that came to Sasuke's mind. Where was Naruto?

Sakura had moved to Naruto's left arm and began pulling out a nail and wanted to heal the wound. "He needs meat, right? That's why he is like this."

Naruto jerked when she pulled at the nail and growled even louder, snapping at Sakura. She stepped back a little out of instinct.

"Naruto, listen to me," Sasuke started and Naruto focussed on him instead, turning his head the other way from Sakura. "I know this must be very hard for you, but you need to hang on a bit longer."

Sakura tried to pull out another nail and Naruto's attention was back to her. "Graaaah!"

Sakura stopped and stepped away a little further from Naruto.

"Naruto!" Sasuke tried again.

Naruto turned his head back. "Grrr."

"We have come to take you back to Konoha, back home, but you need to calm down first. Do you understand?" he asked and Naruto closed his eyes once more.

"Grhg," came the reply, it apparently took Naruto a lot of willpower to even produce just this sound. "Kgg."

"Yes, that's it!" Sakura said as Kakashi stepped outside to back off some unwanted visitors.

"GH! S... S-Sa..." but he couldn't get further, however when he opened his eyes they were blue once more.

"Naruto," Sakura sighed in relief.

Sasuke stepped forward and began untying Naruto's chest.

"S-ssto-pp."

Sasuke looked up to Naruto, but loosened the rope anyway. Sakura was untying his arms.

"I... I c-can't..." he snarled again as he closed his eyes in pain from the hunger.

"Yes, you can control it. It's just until we are outside of this place. There is a small cabin not far from here. You can rest there and we'll get you some meat."

At the mention of the word meat, Naruto's body jerked a bit. "No... I c-can't." His head fell back against the wall.

Sasuke took the opportunity to loosen the rope around Naruto's neck.

As soon as the ropes were loose enough Naruto yanked his hands free from the nails, blood spattered around, and he gripped Sasuke. His canines sank into Sasuke's neck, right on that place where his vest stopped and his neck was exposed. Sasuke flinched at the sudden pain and he held Naruto. Sakura had gasped in shock as she looked straight into Naruto's red eyes, still some rope in her hands.

"It's okay, I know you can't help it," Sasuke said as he felt Naruto's fangs get deeper into his flesh. He closed one eye in pain. "But you don't need to do this, you can fight it."

Naruto stopped moving and his teeth didn't get in deeper. Instead he tightened his grip on Sasuke's shoulders almost painfully.

"You see?" Sasuke put his arms around Naruto. "I believe in you," he whispered into Naruto's human ear. Slowly he felt the canines retreat, leaving a rather deep wound.

Naruto stared at Sasuke as blood dripped down his teeth onto Sasuke's vest. He took a few deep breaths and Sakura stepped forward to loosen the other ropes from around his legs.

Naruto licked the canines and fell into Sasuke's arms. Sakura eyed Naruto's bleeding arm, still full with nails.

"Let's go," she said. Naruto would be better off getting out of here sooner, than had his arm de-nailed.

As she ran out of the room, she kicked some guards on her way and ran past Kakashi.

"I see we're moving again," he said as he waited until Sasuke and Naruto had passed him too.

Naruto had refused to get on Sasuke's back, afraid he might bite him again. And even though he was lacking in the department of energy, he was still moving rather fast in his condition, Sasuke thought; he was probably keen on getting out of here.

They rounded a corner and another, Kakashi holding guards off in the back and Sakura in the front. They took a left fork, a corner to the right, third path from the right and as they rounded another corner Sakura was gone.

"Sakura?" Sasuke asked. "Sakura?" No reply.

Sasuke turned around and walked back to the corner. No Kakashi either. It wasn't a genjutsu, they had lost each other.

"Don't worry, we will meet them in the cabin," Sasuke said, hoping Naruto wouldn't panic, but seemingly Naruto wasn't worrying about them. He didn't have time to worry about his surroundings. He was still growling and kept glancing at his own bleeding arm.

Suddenly a storm of ninja's came hurrying toward them from their front and Sasuke made a sudden halt.

"We have to get back a little. Can you hang on?" Sasuke was shocked to see Naruto. His eyes were red again as he had bitten his lip when they had made the stop. A droplet of blood dripped onto the ground and Naruto began shaking. This wasn't good.

Naruto pushed Sasuke away right at the moment the ninjas attacked. Sasuke seized his katana and began swinging it around, keeping the many ninjas away.

"Naruto!" He had to get back to Naruto. He heard Naruto growl and then a scream.

"Whoa! Did you see that?"

"Get him out of here!"

They were driving Sasuke and Naruto further apart.

"Naruto! Remember the cabin!" Sasuke yelled in the last moment before he lost Naruto completely. He had to remind Naruto it would be over as soon as he would reach the cabin. Not that Sasuke was about to give up!

Chidori sounded and Sasuke electrocuted the area around him. Pushing and shoving some other ninja out of the way he came back to where Naruto was supposed to be.

"Masaka! I can't be." The area was empty and a lot smaller than before.

They somehow shifted the walls and probably the floors and ceiling too with some earth jutsu. Sasuke spun around and made a new way through the wall in front of him with his Chidori. He had to get to Naruto!

-x-

Naruto was losing himself again, but he couldn't do much to stop it either. Staying still to focus wasn't an option right now. A red glow was in front of his eyes, making him do things he luckily didn't all remember. He didn't even know how much time had passed since he had gotten out of the cell.

He saw himself slicing through some ninjas with his claw-like nails. He was covered in blood and flesh was all around him. He had to bite.

No! No, he couldn't give in. Naruto stopped right before slicing another victim. He grabbed his head, blood stained hands grabbing into the blond locks.

No, he had to stop this. He was better than the fox. He could overcome this.

He screamed with full lungs as he tried to push the insanity back. Sasuke was here to safe him; he would go home with him. With Sakura and Kakashi, returning to Konoha!

He fell on his knees and he felt shuriken hit his shoulder. Some shuuriken were deflected by the nails in his left arm as they landed on the head of a nail. But Naruto didn't feel anything, he was fighting himself.

A man with a long axe was running towards him, but Naruto couldn't focus on his surroundings. He had to push the red glow away.

Thinking of Sasuke and how he believed in him made him finally come back to reality. Immediately he felt another unbearable pain as he was just able to see the axe sweep away from him, making him go back to the red glow. Vile, orange chakra, that was leaning a bit more to the red side of the spectrum, pulsed once outside of his body, but this time he managed to calm down rather quickly.

He felt himself fall forward.

As he opened his eyes he saw ninjas lying on the ground around him and a few stunned ninja's further down the hall.

An immense pain in his left arm made him cringe. He had almost lost himself for a moment, but he managed to stay awake. He smelled blood, a lot of blood. The pain was temporarily overwhelmed by a meat craving.

He turned his head around. What he saw shocked him.

His left arm... he didn't have a left arm anymore. The arm was missing and a small blood puddle had formed around it.

He took a few deep breathes trying to calm himself and clear his head. Pictures of slicing open people, Sasuke touching him, blood, a cabin, meat, biting, scorching chakra, burnt flesh, his hands gliding through silk black hair, hate and ninjas staring bewildered at him flashed in his mind. He had to focus on the right picture! He heard footsteps come closer as his mind stopped on the picture of the cabin. He had to get to the cabin, all would be over then.

Rage took over, but his goal was set. Naruto awkwardly stood up, trying to balance himself without his left arm.

A ninja with a giant sledgehammer came storming to him, but he didn't have time to block it. It hit him full force, and extra hard as it was chakra enhanced, on his left side as it was now open for attacks. He could feel and hear his ribs break.

As he hit the wall behind him with the force he had been hit with, blood came from his mouth and he growled in both pain and anger. His tail swept around angrily and his ears lay flat.

The man heaved his sledgehammer back again to swing once more, but Naruto was faster. He grabbed the man's throat and squeezed it. The man let the hammer fall and tried to pry Naruto's fingers loose.

Naruto grinned and shattered the throat with his hand. Blood spattered everywhere and Naruto had to close his eyes to prevent it from impairing his vision.

A new horde of ninjas was coming to him, but he had to go. With the image of the cabin in his mind, he ran away. To the cabin_. To Sasuke!_

-o-o-o-

Sasuke had been storming through wall after wall; he had found Sakura this way, but not Naruto. As he hit another wall he saw the sky, but he had been running so fast that he couldn't stop himself in time. Sakura walked into him and since they were standing on a high edge, this action could not be undone or rebalanced. They fell forward, six metres to the ground.

Sasuke could barely land on his feet and was immediately used to function as a cushion as Sakura landed on top of him. Sasuke groaned and Sakura quickly stood up, helping Sasuke as well, feeling slightly guilty.

An explosion sounded and an orange dot leaped from the high wall, much higher than from where they had come down, and gracefully landed not too far away on their left.

"Naruto," Sakura stated the obvious, but the orange dot was already gone.

"Let's go!" Sasuke yelled as he followed Naruto into the wood of giant toadstools.

Naruto was miraculously heading for the cabin and as they came closer Sasuke understood how he had known. Kakashi was just about to step out of the cabin, probably wanting to go back to the fort, as Naruto bumped full speed into Kakashi and they rolled into the cabin.

Naruto lay spread over Kakashi, growling in pain. Kakashi tried to get up a little and grasped Naruto's sides to lift him. However when he gripped Naruto, not only a loud growl was heard, but he also felt that his left side was wet, completely drenched in blood; his own blood.

Sakura and Sasuke entered the cabin too but what they saw wasn't what they had expected. Naruto was completely covered in blood. Most of it wasn't his, except where the yukata around his shoulder and his side was drenched; it had to be his own blood, especially since-

"Naruto, your arm!" Kakashi said as he sat up and held a limp Naruto against his chest. Naruto groaned in reply. Kakashi looked up to Sakura as she sat beside him. Immediately she began closing the wound and Naruto screamed in pain. Kakashi held him tightly in place so Sakura could heal him.

Sasuke walked around Kakashi and took Naruto's face in his hands, wiping away some blood.

"What happened?" Concern was lining his voice.

"Not s-sure," Naruto said as he breathed out and some blood tickled out of the corner of his mouth. He was very pale, due to a lot of blood loss. "Hungry," was all he could manage before he closed his eyes.

Sasuke let Naruto go and saw how his mouth was slowly opening and biting in Kakashi's vest. Sasuke expected it had been automatically.

Kakashi turned his head toward Naruto, having felt the canines, though they hadn't pierced his vest. Naruto had already lost consciousness.

-oXo-

A/N: Ow, I'm so sorry~

But Friday I will send the next chapter, okay? And after chapter 12 I have some good news for those who would like to read some mpreg story ^^

Did I make things up a little?


	11. Chapter 11: The damage

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sensei.

Thank you all, reviewers :D

-oXo-

**Chapter 11: The damage**

_10__th__ of July _

_Naruto had come home from a mission over an hour ago. He'd taken a shower and was now lying on his back on the couch, sleeping. _

_It was a warm summer's day so Naruto was wearing his orange shorts and a loose blue shirt with a swirl in the shape of a droplet on it._

_One leg had fallen off the couch and was resting on the floor as it hung over the edge. His other leg was lying stretched over the full length of the couch (though he still had space to spare). It looked like he had been twisting and turning as his shorts were twisted over his legs, making them appear to be too tight._

_Something similar had happened with his shirt, turned around his upper body as it exposed his stomach till just above his bellybutton. His hand lay resting just on that border of skin and clothes. His other hand lay beside his head. His tail was curled over the couch, twitching every now and then._

_This was the moment Sasuke walked into the living room with a small bowl of salad in his hands (wherein a lot more of tomato could be seen than was normal). He walked up to the couch and looked down at Naruto._

_His lips were slightly parted as he slowly breathed in and out. His skin looked so soft and smooth. It told Sasuke to touch it. And who was Sasuke to go against that._

_He put his salad down on the table and hunched over to Naruto. Gently he laid the tips of his fingers on Naruto's stomach, around his navel._

_Naruto moaned at the cool touch of Sasuke's fingers as they moved over his stomach as if the seal was there. He opened his eyes into slits and peered at Sasuke. When Sasuke was done tracing the invisible seal he laid his hand on Naruto's abdomen._

_Naruto hissed. "That feels good. You're hands are so cold," he mumbled._

_So Naruto was feeling warm. Sasuke pulled back his hand, pulled Naruto's leg onto the couch and straddled him. Then both his hands moved up to Naruto's torso, under his shirt, up his chest._

_Naruto groaned again as a small smile appeared on his face and he murmured softly in delight. His cheeks were slightly red because he was so warm._

_Sasuke liked this change of roles. Normally he was the one that needed warming up. Now Naruto needed cooling down._

_As he let his hands play with the body underneath him, earning him soft moans, more murmur and giggles as he went over Naruto's sides, he smirked._

"_That tickles," Naruto said and moved his arm around, but was too tired to actually push Sasuke's hands away. "Hihi. Sasuke~," he whined through some giggles, making another attempt at stopping Sasuke's fingers._

_As a counter measure, since the swatting away of hands wasn't working, Naruto folded his arms around Sasuke's back and pulled him closer. _

_To not fall on top of Naruto at the sudden pull, Sasuke had to place his hands on either side of the blond, but used this move to his advantage and pressed his lips on Naruto's._

_Naruto opened his eyes and started into mysterious black. They seemed to sparkle mischievously; something not seen very often in the raven's eyes._

_The raven in return looked into bright blue and as always he saw them look at him in a way that told him how much he meant to the blond. How happy he was. And as usual his happy eyes were contagious, infecting him, making him happy as well._

_Sasuke detached himself from Naruto's mouth to lick his collarbone instead, while Naruto let his hands roam over Sasuke's back, tracing his spinal cord all the way up and started playing with his hair._

_Sasuke gripped Naruto's upper arms and squeezed a bit as Naruto made a shiver run down his spine when he moved his fingers gently at the back of his neck and them back to his hair._

"_Still too warm," Naruto muttered as he pulled off Sasuke's t-shirt over his head and pressed him against his body to cool down. "Haaa," he said happily as his tail curled around his and Sasuke's leg._

_Sasuke had to remove his tongue from Naruto's collarbone because of this action, so he moved his tongue a bit higher. However Naruto was not satisfied and took Sasuke's chin and moved his lips to the other's lips._

_Sasuke sniggered into the kiss._

_After a while Sasuke parted from the kiss and laid his head beside Naruto. They just lay like this, not really doing anything, for quite a while._

"_Let's never part."_

Sasuke watched as Tsunade bended over Naruto's still form, lying on a hospital bed, making a second check-up on him. Sakura had of course been the first.

He looked very pale even though Sakura had given him some blood pills. He felt a bit cold, due to the blood loss and his decreased body fat. He looked very skinny, Tsunade could count his ribs. She didn't like that.

She could see the place where one broken rib had pierced his skin. Sakura must have pushed it back. The only sign left now that could tell it had stuck out of his body was a tiny crust, surrounded by dark painful looking bruises.

It was fortunate that Sakura possessed the same strength as Tsunade and had been able to push the rib back, without using too much force and break it somewhere else. Nevertheless it had probably still taken a lot out of her to push it back. But otherwise then the bruises, it had already healed on the outside.

However a closer examination showed that his three ribs on his left side were broken and as dense as his bones were, Tsunade and Sakura hadn't been able to heal them back together completely. They needed to heal on their own.

She looked down at his stomach, where the seal was showing in a deep black. Nothing was wrong with the seal; the fox was just healing him.

His tail looked dirty and ruffled, some tufts of hair were missing, but was otherwise all right. It wasn't moving, but lay very still.

Next she moved up to his shoulder. Sakura had closed the wound nicely, but it would still leave a scar. Although Tsunade wasn't sure of that, seeing it was Naruto. He had once completely recovered from a hole in his chest, no scars or whatsoever, but the scar on his throat proved that not all scars could be healed. Yet the scar had become smoother and less noticeable over the years.

She went further with her examination. Her hand swiped over the old scar on his throat, where it had once been pierced. She reached his face and she pushed away his upper lip.

His canines were still quite long. They weren't as long as before anymore, but long enough to still stick over his lip. The black line that had enclosed his mouth as Sakura had told her was gone; the same for his red eyes and thickened whisker marks, which now looked rather dull on his hollow cheeks. Other then the long fangs he looked quite normal; fox-demon-wise.

He'd bags under his eyes, making him look rather spooky with his pale and sunken face. And the way his hair fell dully around his face, making his ears stand out.

She stroked some of his dirty long hair from his eyes. He probably hadn't been able to clean himself for over a month.

Lastly she moved her hands over his ears, the normal ones first and then the fox ears. They were quite fine, only the right one was slightly ragged at the edge, but he twitched the ears as she touched them, like he always did.

She straightened herself and gave Naruto one more look before she decided that she had finished checking him up and stepped back. With a sad look on her face she turned around.

"He will probably never be able to be a ninja again," she said.

"What?" Sasuke was thunderstruck.

"He has only his one arm left. Even if he could learn to work around that, and somehow learns to perform hand signs with one hand..." she paused. "However he won't be able to do even that for his chakra system in his right hand has been destroyed. It has tried to heal too many times and wasn't able to do so for too long." She looked at Sasuke. "I'm sorry."

"No, you can't..." Sasuke slowly started, but deep inside he knew she wouldn't be able to do anything; otherwise she would have done so already. "His dream. He has to become Hokage," Sasuke looked over to Naruto. "He is so annoying when it comes to that, but... he just..."

Sakura had tears in her eyes. She had already known, but hadn't been able to say anything about it to Sasuke.

"It just can't be," Sasuke said once more very softly.

Sasuke walked around the bed and grasped Naruto's wrist. The only one he had left.

What would this news do to Naruto? This was just too much for even Naruto to handle. He was no longer able of becoming Hokage, and even his team- his team would suffer as well. He could still teach them, but he couldn't give a demonstration. He could go on simple missions with them, but higher ranked missions would be too dangerous.

Sasuke closed his eyes. He didn't know if he could tell Naruto such a thing, it would break his heart. Everything he had lived for, his dream that had helped him through his entire live. Gone.

And if his dream was gone, would he be able to live on normally? Would he be scarred for the rest of his life? Sasuke was afraid of the answer.

As Sasuke had sat down and was staring at Naruto, the rest watched him with a rather sad look on their faces. His free hand travelled up to Naruto's cheek and as he laid it there Naruto moaned softly and leaned into the touch. A tiny smile appeared on Sasuke's face as Naruto responded to him.

"We'll... we'll let you alone," Sakura said and turned away, the rest following her.

Sasuke kept stroking Naruto's face for a while. He had missed him so much. He couldn't begin to put in words how much. All because they'd had a fight and look at Naruto now. He looked so fragile suddenly, so thin and in pain.

Sasuke bit his lip as he softly squeezed into Naruto's bandaged hand. He looked over to the armless shoulder. Tsunade hadn't bandaged it yet after her examination. It looked red and there were crusts forming.

Sasuke pulled up the sheets to cover Naruto up and as the sheets fell around his body it looked strange. He somehow looked smaller without his arm framing his body.

Naruto groaned and Sasuke moved his hand back to his face, stroking the hollow cheek. He bowed closer until their lips softly grazed. He looked up into Naruto's eyes, but they were still closed. He gently kissed Naruto and then leaned back again.

"I missed you," Sasuke whispered and a lonely tear fell down his face, "so much."

-x-

As Sakura walked back to her own apartment she thought back to when they had left the cabin. They hadn't thought it to be safe to stay there any longer than necessary. Right after Sakura had closed Naruto's shoulder, which he hadn't liked at all, they had left because when she had wanted to check the rest of him, Naruto had begun snarling and even had tried to snap at her hand when she had come too close to his face.

Three hours later they had stopped, because they had to; Naruto was too heavily wounded and he had begun seizing. Kakashi came back after a few minutes with some animal he'd caught and Sakura took of the skin.

_Naruto's eyes flashed open, scarlet red and the seizing changed into jerky movements as he smelled the meat. He growled constantly, his back bended and the hairs on his tail were standing on end threateningly until Sakura held out a piece in front of him. He nearly snatched her hand in his haste to eat it. It was gone in the blink of an eye._

"_Ehh, Naruto?" Sakura asked, trying to communicate with him. "You mustn't eat so fast. You haven't eaten much for-"_

_Naruto tried to stand up and in a mix of stumbling and crawling came to the rest of the death animal and began chewing and biting chunks off it at a fast tempo._

"_Naruto?" Sakura asked again. _

_Kakashi tried to stop him but he just bit out to his hand, growling, and they just let him eat the meat. Sakura was amazed at the speed he'd eaten the tender, raw meat. _

_When he finished he dropped the carcass and bared his still long, though slightly smaller, teeth. Slowly he licked one canine._

_Sasuke took a step closer and carefully laid his hand on Naruto's right shoulder. Naruto turned around, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth and his eyes were back to their normal blue again, though still contained slitted pupils. The black line around his mouth had gone and the dark whiskers had faded some. _

_They stared at each other for a moment before Sasuke let go and caught a pail from his backpack where he poured some water in._

_Naruto just watched him move with constant suspicion and Sakura came closer to help Sasuke. However when she looked at Naruto's blood drenched yukata, she just had to check him up. She turned to him and gently grasped his lower arm; he growled at her, waving his tail threateningly back and forth. She hunched down in front of him and reached with her hands to his side and he snapped at her. _

_Sakura pulled back her hand and saw Naruto flinch. He pulled his hand from her grasp and wrapped it around his left side._

"_Naruto, let me look at it." Sakura's eyes were clear and stared straight into Naruto's dull blue ones. His only response was baring his teeth and another growl._

_They sat there for a while, trying to get his confidence and getting closer when suddenly he doubled over and began heaving. Almost all of the meat came back out._

_When he finished Sakura sighed. "I tried to tell you," she said softly._

_At that moment Sasuke poured the water from the pail over Naruto's head. Naruto growled as the red water poured down his face. Sakura gave Sasuke a look._

"_We have to leave," he said._

_Kakashi nodded. "Yes, they are coming closer."_

"_But still, you didn't have to," Sakura started as she wanted to help Naruto up, but he was shaking his head to clear the water from his hair._

_Sasuke carefully helped him up with caution for his hands not being bitten at and helped him back on Kakashi's back. Hurriedly they ran away and slowly through the pain and exhaustion Naruto blacked out._

_The next time they stopped was because Sakura told them so. Naruto really needed medical care, right now! Sasuke made sure that they were hidden safely and had left no traces._

_Carefully Kakashi put the barely conscious Naruto down and left again to get some meat. _

_His whisker marks had pronounced again and his teeth were still very long. A small trail of blood tickled down the corner of his mouth._

_Sakura opened his yukata and took in a sharp breath at the sight, just as Sasuke came to stand next to her. He was skin and bones and his side was completely black and blue._

_A white, red rib stuck nastily out of his chest. She hadn't known it had been this bad; otherwise she wouldn't have let him be carried around like this. What if the broken bones had pierced his lungs? _

_Together with Sasuke she cleaned him up very carefully to have a better look of the damage and knowing what to do. Luckily Naruto was too weak to struggle, he just kept sweeping his tail and growling, but that was all he could do._

_Then she let her hands hover over his shoulder again to heal it. Once she was satisfied she pulled her hand back, just as Kakashi returned._

"_Good, keep the meat away for a second and come help me hold Naruto down. You too Sasuke. I need to push the rib back. If he eats first it might just come out again if he moves to wildly." _

_They did as she said and Sakura straddled Naruto, so she could take care of his rib. Kakashi held his legs down and Sasuke took his arm and laid a hand on his shoulder. They looked at Sakura and she nodded._

"_Hold him tight," she said before she carefully grasped the rib and began to push it back._

_Naruto's eyes opened wide and he began screaming at the top of his lungs. His eyes flared from blue to red and he growled in pain as Sakura tried to push the bone back. _

_It was very hard, because of the high density of the bone it didn't really want to give way any. But she knew that if she put all her chakra into it, she might break it, which would only make things worse. _

_Sasuke and Kakashi held him down as he tried to wiggle and shake free._

_Sweat dripped down Sakura's face and finally she noticed how the bone slowly disappeared further into the place it should be._

"_It hurts!" Naruto suddenly screamed and Sakura almost lost her grip. She hadn't expected him to be more or less conscious about this, seeing he had only been growling until now. But now he actually spoke some words, though it were the only ones as he went back to the growling and snarling. _

_Sasuke gripped her shoulder and she looked at him. She nodded to him and she found her grip again and pushed forward, hoping Naruto wouldn't remember. _

_He still moved too much, it only made this more painful. _

_Sakura looked down to Naruto's eyes and saw he was looking back at her. For a minute everything around her disappeared and Naruto's eyes turned blue._

"_Please, make the pain stop," he whispered almost inaudible._

_She blinked and she was staring into red eyes again and Naruto was squirming once more. Had she just imagined that? _

_She pushed again and finally finished pushing the rib back. Naruto gave some jerks and cramped up before he lay still, his eyes half open. He was taking in some painfully short breaths of air. _

_Sasuke and Sakura carefully helped him up and Sakura bandaged him; his side and his shoulder. She took off the yukata and Sasuke washed him quickly to get rid of most of the blood before he pulled on some of his own clothes on Naruto. They were too big but at least he wasn't looking all bloody anymore._

_If the situation hadn't been so serious, it actually might have been funny to see Naruto's feet completely disappearing into the long legs of Sasuke's pants. The same was going on with his sleeve especially as the white jacket was hanging lob-sided to his right shoulder as it would otherwise keep sliding down his wounded shoulder._

_Sakura had washed out most of the blood from his hair, but still red parts were sticking strands together. His hair was greasy and didn't look nearly as blond as it should be as he hadn't been able to wash for so long._

_After he'd come to a little, just enough to not wolf down the given meat as before, they had waited for him to finish the right proportion Sakura told them to give and took off again._

_Naruto moaned in pain as he was being carried by Sasuke, he had regained some consciousness and felt miserable, as his blue eyes dully tried to take in some of the environment, but it didn't register._

When Sakura had given him a complete check-over the next day she'd noticed his damaged chakra nodes in his hand, she'd just bandaged it. She couldn't bear to tell Sasuke; at least not yet.

Naruto had been drifting in and out of consciousness constantly, looking around like he had never seen the world before. He didn't show any recognition about anything and the only 'word' he'd spoken was when Sasuke touched his cheek and he'd hesitantly looked back into his black eyes, the sound 'sas' leaving his mouth very softly.

As Sakura lay down on her soft mattress and she closed her eyes she felt a tear roll down her cheek as she thought about yesterday again.

_She was checking the blond up and sat in front of him as he was leaning with his back against Sasuke, who held him up. Suddenly Naruto reached up his hand and stroked her chin softly. She stopped what she'd been doing. It looked like he was trying to remember her._

_Slowly the hand went to her ear and stroked through her hair. He followed a strand and his hand landed on her shoulder, there it lay still for a moment. _

_Everyone was silent as they watched Naruto, hoping he would show a sign he was conscious of what he was doing. _

_He moved his hand over to her neck and slowly it went down over her collarbone, but Sakura caught it before it went to low. Gradually his eyes came to meet hers. She thought she saw something in his eyes, but then he let his hand drop and closed his eyes._

-oXo-

Next: Naruto wakes up

A/N: I changed the picture on my profile so you can see what team 9 looks like ^^


	12. Chapter 12: Waking up

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sensei.

Ah, I finally finished up to chapter 24. Chapters are getting longer... I might have to start thinking about how to end the story... but I don't know how yet ^^

-oXo-

**Chapter 12: Waking up**

_12__th__ of July _

When Naruto opened his eyes everything was white, but even blinking a few times didn't help to clear it; it only became more sober coloured, a bit grey-brownish. This could only mean one thing: he was in the hospital.

His shoulder hurt. He looked to the left and was reminded of what he had hoped wasn't true. His left arm was completely missing and was bandaged around the shoulder. He sighed and noticed he couldn't feel his other arm either.

Though this was for a different reason, for as he looked to his right, two almost identical persons were sleeping on his arm. Naruto tried to move his arm as it felt numb. At the motion a pair of dark eyes opened.

"Naruto, you're awake. How are you feeling?" Sasuke of course could see for himself Naruto didn't look too good. He was still a bit pale and he seemed a bit feverish.

"Could be better," he answered truthfully as he slowly looked down to the IV drip attached to his arm.

"It hurts a lot, doesn't it?"

Sasuke knew, no use getting around it. "Yeah."

Naruto had one time been on a mission with Sakura and had been cut deeply in his side. Sakura had given him some painkillers, but it hadn't worked. She had eventually tried a small dose of morphine she carried with her.

However, not even when they had used all the morphine in her bag it had had the effect on him they had wanted. It had dulled the pain a lot; in fact it had made the wound go almost numb so he kept reopening it accidentally.

But that wasn't the worst thing that had happened, for it had made things only worse when the morphine had entered his body. The healing of his wound had stopped completely to get the morphine out of his system instead.

So it had made him become rather sluggish, made him reopen the wound and had stopped his healing of the wound. Not a good situation on the field.

Right now it probably would give the same outcome, so Naruto had to endure the pain by himself. Luckily for him, Sasuke was his painkiller, more or less.

As Sasuke leaned forward over his chibi-son to kiss Naruto said chibi woke up. Sasuke pulled back from the kiss to look at his son.

"Naruto, you're awake!" he squeaked. Naruto gave a small grin.

Sasuke walked around Akira and helped Naruto to sit up more straight, which wasn't easy with three broken ribs, as he pushed the bed up some. Then he piled up the cushions behind Naruto's back and sat down next to Akira again.

Akira was looking worriedly at Naruto as he kept flinching all the while.

"It this my fault?" he asked.

Naruto's eyebrows went up. "What? No off course not!"

"You were angry when you left-"

"At Sasuke-teme."

Akira, a bit shocked, turned his head to Sasuke to see how he would react at the name-calling. Apparently it didn't bother him much.

"Sure?" he asked as he looked back to Naruto.

"Sure, come over here." Naruto patted the bed carefully with his bandaged hand. Akira climbed on the bed and sat cautiously beside Naruto. Naruto slowly laid his arm around Akira's shoulders.

"See? I'm not mad at you." Naruto smiled and Akira returned it.

Slowly the small raven turned his head to eye Naruto's missing arm. "Does it hurt?" he asked innocently.

"A little," Naruto lied. Sasuke gave him a look.

Akira stared some more at the arm, or the lack of it, until Sasuke thought it was enough.

"You know it's rude to stare," he said.

Akira jumped a little at the words, or at the voice, Naruto couldn't tell. "Sorry."

"It's okay, you can stare at it. Sasuke does too, you know."

"Really?" Akira looked suspiciously to Sasuke.

Honestly, Naruto was too good for the kid and it wasn't even his own, Sasuke thought.

Naruto closed his eyes and carefully took a deep breath. All he wanted to do right now was sleep, but he didn't think he would be able to with the pain.

A knock on the door sounded and Sakura, Kakashi and Iruka entered the room. Naruto opened his eyes again.

"Naruto, you're awake!" Iruka came walking to the bed. When he stood there next to Naruto, he started moving around a bit awkwardly as he obviously wanted to hug Naruto or something but didn't knew how to with all his injuries.

Naruto slowly pulled his arm back from behind Akira, made a face as he felt a stitch in his side, and reached for Iruka's hand.

"How are you?" Iruka asked as he took his hand very tightly in his own, squeezing it painfully.

"Well, this way you're going to outdo the pain in my other arm," Naruto answered, though of course this wasn't true.

"I'm so sorry," Iruka said as he let go.

"Don't be, it would be a nice distraction."

"But you just said it only hurts a little," Akira suddenly said.

Naruto grinned at him. "I did?"

Akira didn't understand that, but instead of looking away he kept staring at Naruto. Naruto turned back to his visitors. Iruka had taken a seat closest to Naruto, next to him was Kakashi and last Sakura was seated on the end of the bed. Iruka stared worriedly at him and Naruto tried to smile back, to calm him down some, but the pain prevented him from making a nice smile.

Suddenly Naruto felt a small finger touching his canines. Naruto looked down to the owner of the small finger.

"Why are your teeth so long? They weren't before," Akira asked curiously.

This time Naruto had no answer ready so he just shrugged (which wasn't such a good idea he noticed).

"Akira, I think it's enough. Get off the bed and let Naruto rest," Sasuke said.

Akira looked to Naruto just as he cringed from a piercing pain coming from his shoulder. "Okay, tou-chan." He slipped of the bed and went to sit down, but Sakura stood up.

"Akira-kun, could you perhaps help me to get some tea for everyone?"

Akira smiled and ran to the door. "This way," he said. Of course Sakura knew where to find the tea, she worked in the hospital, but she pretended not to know and followed him out of the room. She had noticed it might be better if Akira left the room for a while.

As soon as the door closed Naruto asked, "What happened?"

He got a few stares. "That's what we would like to know," Kakashi said.

"I mean, since I passed out in the cabin."

Sasuke sighed. "You woke up a few hours later and we gave you some meat. You ate a lot of meat."

"Too much, too quick," Kakashi added. "I think you threw up more than half of it a little later. Probably because you hadn't eaten a lot for over a month, your stomach couldn't handle it." Naruto frowned, apparently not remembering.

"On the way back we fed you some more, since you tried to eat Kakashi's vest again," Sasuke continued.

"I can't remember that at all. Only..." His face scrunched up some more and his hand went to his broken ribs. "Pain." He shook his head. "I can remember some things from the beginning, but from something like over a week ago till the cabin I can only remember some bits and pieces. Or a week ago then... how long has it been? I don't know." He shook his head.

The most things of what he _did_ remember from those last weeks, he didn't like. Naruto cringed at the tough of how he had snapped at people's hands and how he had bitten Sasuke.

His visitors took the cringe in another way.

"Are you still hungry?" Iruka asked. He remembered a year ago when Naruto had stormed into his house in the middle of a Sunday night, asking if he had meat in the house.

"Not really, I think."

"You think?" Sasuke asked.

"I'm not sure. Hnn." He groaned as he leaned forward in pain and clutched his shoulder, below his neck; he didn't dare to grab the actual wound. Iruka steadied him, before he could fold double.

"I'll get you something," Iruka said as he laid Naruto back. "Just to make sure; your teeth are still long like Akira noticed correctly." He stood up. "Plus you lost a lot of weight, so you could use some food anyway." He left the room.

"I'm not sure about the food, but I wouldn't mind some painkillers though," Naruto said as he closed his eyes.

Sasuke softly gripped Naruto's hand as it still lay on his shoulder. "We didn't dare to give you any before."

Naruto nodded, he understood. He hadn't really meant he had wanted painkillers; he just wanted the pain to decrease a bit to more acceptable levels. He sighed.

Sasuke decided distraction might be the best help he could offer Naruto right now.

"Akira made a drawing for you." Sasuke fumbled in his back pocket of his pants and gave Naruto a piece of paper. It was a bit crinkled, but Naruto didn't mind, he had just gotten a drawing of a five-year-old. He had never gotten a drawing before.

It wasn't the best drawing he had ever seen, but what could you expect from a child.

Naruto smiled. "Why didn't he give it himself?"

"He did, but you weren't really back yet."

Naruto looked up. "What do you mean, 'not really back yet'?"

"Apparently Akira thinks that he saw you in the forest while you were away."

Naruto frowned. "And then he gave 'me' the drawing?"

"Yes."

Naruto looked suspiciously to Sasuke, wondering if Akira had been seeing things or had an imaginary friend. "Then how did you get the drawing? What are you not telling me?"

Sasuke glanced over to Kakashi, who was almost just as curious as Naruto was. "He... he saw..." Sasuke just couldn't say it facing Naruto, so he turned away. "He thought he saw you."

"Then what did he see, Sasuke?" Naruto said with an undertone telling Sasuke to spill it.

Sasuke took in a breath before turning back to Naruto and staring him in the eyes. "He saw a small fox and thought it was you in your- hm... 'fox form'."

Naruto's eyebrows went up a little. "Fox form?"

"Fox form," Sasuke repeated.

"Sure, why not." Naruto looked back at the drawing.

He couldn't really figure out what it was supposed to represent. Perhaps he was holding it upside down, so he turned it around.

Sasuke took the paper and turned it back. "You were holding it right."

Naruto looked up to Sasuke. "How can you tell?"

"Because otherwise our house would be upside down, along with us."

Naruto studied the piece of paper once more; finally he asked, "We are on the drawing?"

"Sure, look, this is you," Sasuke pointed to a tangle of orange lines, "this is Akira," some green lines, "me," blue and purple dots and lines, "and the house," a lot of colours mixed.

Naruto stared at Sasuke. "Did he tell you that?"

"It's kind of obvious isn't it?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow. He turned the drawing to Kakashi. "Can you make all of that out of this?"

Kakashi held up his hands in defence. "I'm not going to get involved in this."

"Come on, Naruto, I know it isn't Sai's work, but you can tell."

"Sure, when you draw like that yourself," Naruto mocked.

Sasuke looked rather angry over such a little thing and grabbed the drawing out of Naruto's hand. Naruto was rather surprised at the sudden outburst. "If you don't like it-" Sasuke mumbled.

However before Sasuke could finish his sentence or before Naruto could respond, the door opened as Iruka had rather quickly found the meat. He held a plate with meat and veggies in his hands and put it on Naruto's lap, giving him some chopsticks. The plate was full with small barbecued beef, chicken and pork; with on the side a few cut vegetables.

"Here you go." Iruka smiled at Naruto.

"Thanks."

Iruka broke the sticks apart for him and handed them back. Naruto carefully positioned them in his bandaged hand with help from Iruka.

"Itadakimasu."

As Naruto was slowly eating the meat, Akira came in with a soda and a tea followed by Sakura holding four cups of tea and gave them to Kakashi, Iruka and one to Sasuke who put it on Naruto's nightstand. Akira gave the tea he was carrying to Sasuke and tried to climb up his lap, while not spilling his soda. Sasuke put his own tea on Naruto's nightstand too and gripped the chibi under his arms and hoisted him up on his lap, where Akira sat happily sipping his soda. Naruto glanced to them and grinned as he put the chopsticks with some meat in his mouth.

As Naruto was eating his long hair fell into his face and Sasuke bend forward to put it behind his ear.

"You need a haircut, or do you plan on growing a ponytail?"

Naruto scrunched up his nose and put down the carrot he had been intending to eat.

Iruka grinned and grasped Naruto's hair, tying it together with his fingers in a low ponytail. "You could pull it off."

Naruto gave Iruka a stern, serious look and his ears disappeared in his hair. Two strands of yellow locks slid away from the ponytail and framed his face.

Kakashi almost choked on his tea when he looked at Naruto with a wide eye. Sakura patted him on the back.

"I told you not to gulp down your tea." Sakura told him, not having noticed the real reason he had choked.

Iruka let Naruto's hair go. They sat there drinking their tea, having a normal conversation.

After a while Sakura put down her empty teacup and stood up.

"Sasuke, I was thinking," Sasuke looked up to her, "that maybe Akira-kun would like to stay over at my place for a while?" Sakura looked to Akira.

"What do you think, Akira?" Sasuke asked as he looked down to his small clone. A big smile was spreading over the boy's face.

"Yeah!" he almost yelled. "Stay over!" He jumped off Sasuke's lap and sprinted to Sakura, pulling her hand as he ran a circle around her. After that he let go and went for the door.

"I'm going to sleep at Sakura no oba-san's place!" At those words he left the room. A room now full with surprised faces.

"Oba-san?" Sakura repeated. "He called me aunt?" she sounded stunned.

It was silent for a moment. "Wait, Akira-kun!" Sakura ran after Akira.

Sasuke stood up from his chair. "Guess I will have to help him pack some stuff."

He turned to Naruto. "I'll see you later," and he wanted to turn away again, but Naruto let his chopsticks fall and snatched Sasuke's collar, pulling him closer.

Sasuke thought he wanted to kiss him, as had Iruka who turned his head slightly away, but Naruto pulled him further so he could whisper into Sasuke's left ear.

"You've become a fine father in the last month."

Sasuke grinned. "I had too, you weren't around to help me," he whispered back. Before he pulled back he kissed Naruto on the cheek. He walked around the bed and Kakashi stood up as well.

"Good to have you back," he said to Naruto and followed Sasuke out the door.

Iruka sat silently watching Naruto struggle to empty his plate, but eventually he noticed Naruto just couldn't. He took the plate from Naruto as he was staring at it, like it would magically teleport into his stomach, and gripped the chopsticks from his hand. Naruto looked up at him.

"Next time I'll bring you some ramen." Iruka started emptying the plate of food by eating the last bit himself. It tasted rather nice for hospital food.

Naruto smiled. "Thanks, Iruka-sensei."

When Iruka had cleaned the plate, he saw Naruto was resting again, having closed his eyes and lying back. "You want me to take the pillows away?"

Naruto opened one eye sleepily. "Yeah."

Iruka took away the extra pillows and let the bed down slowly.

As Naruto closed his eyes once more Iruka stayed sitting in the chair, watching Naruto breathe. He reached out a hand and stroked through Naruto's hair. It had been washed, but it was still a bit greasy. "I'm so glad you're back."

"Hmm," and a faint smile were the only answers he got.

"Guess I'll let you rest." He wanted to stand up, but Naruto caught his hand, his eyes sleepily staring into his.

"Please don't." Naruto loosened the grip and averted his eyes a bit. "I mean, I don't mind you staying."

Iruka smiled and sat down. Still holding Naruto's hand, he squeezed it a bit. "I won't go anywhere."

-x-

Naruto sat dully looking in front of him, he was shivering a bit and he was in pain, hence the dull expression. He was still holding Iruka's hand, just like when he had woken up, but he wasn't really aware of it anymore.

Iruka had tried to start a conversation a couple of times, but Naruto's answers had been rather short. So Iruka just sat there, watching Naruto.

Iruka wondered what he was thinking about as he stared at the opposite wall. His ears twitched every now and then.

"I think..." Naruto suddenly said, still watching the wall. "I think I would like to go to the bathroom." Naruto glanced over to Iruka.

"But you have a catheter," Iruka said.

"I know, I just want to leave the room for a moment," Naruto said softly, his hair falling into his face.

Iruka understood. He probably wanted to make sure to himself that he could move around now that he was back, instead of locked up in a room. Perhaps he wanted to see some other wall as well.

"Okay. Come, I'll help you."

As the catheter was removed and Iruka had helped Naruto to the small bathroom, he let him there alone for a moment, hoping Naruto hadn't developed claustrophobia from his abduction. However as he heard no cries of panic or something, he didn't think so.

He leant against the wall, when the door to the room opened, hiding him from view.

Someone took a few steps inside and then halted. Iruka heard Sasuke take a breath as he saw the empty bed.

"He's in the bathroom," Iruka said as he took a few steps forward to show himself.

"Ah," Sasuke said and closed the door, waiting with Iruka.

But after ten minutes of waiting, Iruka became a bit worried; perhaps Naruto had passed out instead of screaming. Sasuke seemed a bit concerned as well and walked to the door, knocking on it.

"Naruto, you need help?"

No answer came and Sasuke walked inside.

"Naruto, are you all right?" Iruka heard Sasuke's soft voice.

Naruto sighed. "Yeah, I'm fine." Naruto's voice sounded a bit sad.

"You can tell me what's wrong. You need help, getting up from the ground?"

No answer came, so Iruka assumed Naruto had nodded as he heard Sasuke move. Some more movement and groans were heard. Iruka supposed Naruto hadn't really needed to go to the bathroom, but just some change of scene. Sasuke helped Naruto back to the bed.

Naruto stopped just before the bed and shrunk a bit. "Grah," he muttered softly as he closed his eyes. His tail slid between his legs and his ears lay flat.

Sasuke didn't dare to move Naruto as he was in pain.

"I just..." Naruto gasped.

Iruka moved to Naruto's other side and together with Sasuke helped Naruto back onto the bed. Even though Naruto groaned in pain, they thought it better to lay him down then hang on Sasuke's shoulder.

When Naruto was finally lying down, his face scrunched up in pain, Sasuke and Iruka looking worriedly at him, Naruto reached for Iruka's hand. He was on Naruto's right side and gripped Naruto's hand. Naruto held it firmly, very firmly and Iruka almost lost feeling in his hand.

Sasuke seemed to notice this and stood up. He bended over Naruto to look straight at his closed eyes; waiting for them to open.

"Naruto, focus on us instead of the pain. Talk to us."

Sasuke looked over to Iruka and he understood.

"Naruto, can you remember when you came to my apartment last year, all worried?"

Naruto opened his eyes, stared straight into Sasuke's as he was so close and grinded his teeth. Then he bowed his head to Iruka. "No."

"Sasuke had been on a mission for almost a month and he hadn't returned yet. You were worried, remember?"

"I- I don't," Naruto said and looked back to Sasuke and his head found that a better idea.

"I was on that mission to Kumo then," Sasuke caught on.

"And then?" Naruto asked.

"You were worried something had happened because he should have returned a week already and hadn't. I told you-"

"-that everything was fine," Naruto finished.

"You remember?" Iruka asked, a small smile forming on his face.

"No, just sounds like you." Naruto closed his eyes again and Iruka officially lost all feeling in his hand.

"You s-slept over at my place," Iruka winced.

"Grrrgh," Naruto cramped up.

"We stayed up till four in the morning even though I had classes in the morning."

"W-we talked about a lot of things, especially about t-the academy."

"Yes, we did. About when you were still a gaki," Iruka grinned.

"S-sasuke returned the next evening."

Iruka nodded. "I arrived too late at the academy that morning and I think you slept all day."

Naruto actually grinned at that. "I did." The grip on Iruka's hand lessened.

"I was later because we'd met some rich man on our way back that had convinced us to guide him home, which was close to Konoha," Sasuke said.

"You came back with your arm dislocated, because that man had yanked your arm so hard."

"Because he thought he'd seen a robber or something," Sasuke grumbled at the memory.

"You had no medic ninja with you, just some genin rookies. Who y-you absolutely let not touch you."

"With good reason."

"When you came back home Naruto jumped on you, isn't it?" Iruka shook his head.

"Hurt a lot, didn't it?" Naruto asked. His ears were going back up.

"Hn." Sasuke smiled a bit as he saw Naruto unfold himself.

"Didn't you accidentally get the arm back in the right position when you pulled back?" Iruka asked.

"I did," Naruto said as he breathed out and his eyes closed again. "I did," he said softly.

"Wasn't happy with that," Sasuke said as he remembered Naruto hugging him, first making the pain only worse as he moved the arm in an even worse position. Then he had pulled back and had somehow pulled Sasuke's arm back in the position it should be. That had hurt for a good week after that, instead of letting it put back by a doctor and feeling fine a few days later.

"Never heard you... curse... that much." Naruto's breathing evened out and Iruka's hand was finally free. He shook it, to get the blood back in there.

"Hm."

* * *

><p>When Naruto woke up once more it was dark and he noticed someone had crawled up in his bed against his right side. Sasuke had one arm lying over Naruto's stomach and the other was somewhere underneath his own body.<p>

"Looks uncomfortable," Naruto said softly, testing if Sasuke would wake up.

"Hn, then move over," Sasuke said sleepily as his arm lying over Naruto tried to grope for something to hold.

"It's a single bed, you know."

"No problem, I'll just..." Sasuke had finally found something to grasp -Naruto's hip- and tried to hoist himself up further onto the bed, away from the edge.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Sasuke stopped moving. "Why no-" his eyes fluttered open and he sat up on the bed. "I'm sorry, did I hurt you?" He scanned Naruto to look if he showed any signs of being in pain.

"Not yet." Naruto looked around the room. "What time's it?"

"Around two in the morning I guess."

"Ah." Naruto yawned. "I'm a bit thirsty."

Sasuke took a glass of water from the nightstand and helped Naruto to sit up as he gave him the glass.

"Thanks," Naruto said as soon as he had gulped down all of the water.

Sasuke said nothing, just sat there studying Naruto. His fever and sweating from the day before had gone after a good night sleep. He'd still been pale this whole day, but that had faded as well as he now actually was a little red on his cheeks from sleeping.

"You know," Naruto slowly started, looking up to Sasuke and grasping his shirt. Sasuke leaned in closer. "I feel like making..." Sasuke leaned in even further, grazing Naruto's lips. "-a small walk." Naruto grinned.

"Hn?" Sasuke leaned back, his eyebrows rising for a moment, and then stared at Naruto with his serious face.

"Well, I'm going anyway, it's just the question if you want to come." The corners of Naruto's mouth went up even further, foxy grin intact.

Sasuke sighed but stood up from the bed nonetheless. He had his Naruto back.

Naruto swayed his legs over the edge and winced. Then Sasuke laid his arm around his waist as he stood up. Naruto glared at him.

"I can do it myself-"

"But I'm cold; I need you against my body to warm me up." He smirked. He knew Naruto needed the support, but wouldn't admit it yet.

Naruto stuck out his tongue. Together they walked out of the room and into the park of the hospital, Naruto wincing quite a bit. They sat down on a bench and Naruto leaned against Sasuke, his right hand resting on Sasuke's hip; his tail on the other side beside him on the bench.

"I missed you."

They sat there in silence and Sasuke looked down to Naruto and thought about what Tsunade had said. Naruto could no longer be the ninja he was, if he could even still be a ninja. He just couldn't get it over his heart to tell Naruto. At least not yet, he was still recovering from mental and physical damage.

Naruto started humming a song that Sasuke had thought him. Sasuke recognized it immediately.

"My mother's song."

"I'm sorry, I'll stop."

"No, it's okay. Go on." And so Naruto did.

After quite a while, the stars were already clearly in the sky. It had become rather chilly in Sasuke's opinion, but Naruto provided enough warmth for the both of them, like he always did.

Then Sasuke suddenly asked, "What happened back there?"

Naruto stopped humming. "I'm not completely sure. Some things are really clear and others are very vague."

Silence fell once more.

"If you don't want to talk abou-"

"It's not necessarily that I don't want to, it's just..." Naruto's voice died away.

After a while Naruto continued. "I'll tell you as soon as I have sorted things out, okay?"

"Okay."

Naruto almost fell asleep after that, but he told himself not to and instead stood up shakily and Sasuke steadied him.

"I think I want to go back to bed," he said and confirmed this information with a yawn.

Sasuke laid his arm around Naruto's waist once more and together they walked back.

-oXo-

A/N: So about the mpreg story: it will not be in this story, because this is not an mpreg story as I told you before. I will send another story, named Kiseki, that will take place about two years after this one, counting from chapter 7.

The other story is more or less finished, so things that happen in this story after chapter 7 might or might not have happened or appear (not) to have happened in Kiseki. Though there might be some hints ^^ You can decide that for yourself, let your own imagination do a little work as well.

Conclusion: if you don't like mpreg, you can keep reading this story, if you would like to read mpreg you can read the other story as well ^^ In that way Kiseki is an extra story and things that happen there will not influence this story (also because it takes place later than this one).


	13. Chapter 13: Hospital boredom

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sensei.

For all those people who are concerned about Naruto's arm and hand; all I can say is... Nah, I'm not gonna spoil the story, so I won't say anything; just read :P

-oXo-

**Chapter 13: Hospital boredom**

_16__th__ of July _

Naruto's eyes flickered open as he felt a stab of pain in his shoulder and he sat up straight and looked around for a distraction.

He was alone. Two days ago Tsunade had kicked Sasuke out the room after she had found out that he had stayed all night. Visitors weren't allowed to stay all night, being an Uchiha didn't make any difference, she had told him. Naruto grinned at how mad Tsunade had been, when she had entered the room.

Sasuke had been lying over Naruto and apparently also over his broken ribs as Tsunade had seen Naruto's face scrunched in pain. She had stormed over to the bed and had the raven roughly removed from Naruto. After that she took him down the hall and had a small but rather loud conversation with him. Naruto hadn't needed fox ears to hear her talking.

Sasuke did not return to the room until later that day. When Naruto asked if he was okay, since Tsunade had been rather harsh on him, he looked indifferent about it; like he had already forgotten.

Lying there, imagining what kind of breakfast he might be having this time, Ino came walking in.

"Ohayo, Naruto."

"Ohayo," Naruto said as he tried to sit up. Sitting up with three broken ribs and one arm is more difficult than it seems, Naruto had come to understand.

Ino helped him up, put the cushions behind his back and told him to take the kimono-like jacket off as she placed some rather dull looking food on his nightstand.

Naruto opened his jacket a little and let it slide over his shoulders. Carefully Ino started to take the bandages that were covering his whole upper body off.

When she had done that she took a good long look at his shoulder. Naruto decided he wanted a glimpse as well, although he still wasn't sure if he wanted to see it.

The wound looked like someone had grabbed his skin around the wound and had pulled it over the wound to cover it and had then sealed the skin together. In the middle, around the place where Naruto expected the bone to be, was the middle of this knitted skin.

Almost none of Naruto's wounds had left a scar and had completely disappeared after a few days. This one hadn't and Naruto didn't expect it to do so, just like the scar on his throat and the back of his neck.

Finally Ino's hands started to glow a deep purple and she laid it over the healing wound. That felt very good. Naruto let out a breath and closed his eyes. Ino noticed this and grinned.

Then she noticed his hair hanging in front of his eyes. She had seen it the day before too, but had been too busy to say anything about it.

"So I notice you're going for a hairstyle much like Jiraiya-sama?" she giggled at her own joke.

Naruto opened his eyes and stared at her. "No way am I going to walk around like Ero-sennin. Everybody will think I'm going to peek at the women in the onsen."

"I don't think it will come to that." Ino sniggered as she pictured him watching woman while Sasuke stood behind him, glaring at his boyfriend.

Naruto stared at her. "As soon as I'm out of here I'm going to do something about it. Everybody is making fun of it."

Ino smiled. "I can help you with that. I just need to go to one more patient after you and then I can give you a haircut if you'd like."

"That would be great," Naruto smiled.

Ino moved her hands to his chest and checked his ribs. "They have already grown to each other, though they are not completely healed yet; probably because of the high density of the bones. It will take a while before they are really mended." On the outside however nothing could be seen. It

She looked to Naruto's stomach where the seal was showing. She had noticed the day before as well. Naruto looked down too and before he could see it, he already knew what she wanted to ask.

"It's showing because the fox is healing me."

Ino looked up from the seal into his eyes. "But I thought your chakras had mixed?"

"They do, as soon as I have made my chakra it fuses with the rest of the chakra inside my body. The same goes for the fox's."

Ino nodded. "So the fox is giving you chakra to heal and that's why the seal is there, but as soon as it is made it becomes a fusion of both your chakras and it isn't really his anymore?"

"Correct." Naruto grinned.

Ino's hands stopped glowing and she took a new bandage so she could wrap it around his shoulder and upper chest. She didn't put it over his ribs, since it wasn't really necessary any longer.

She stood up and put her things together. "Well, see you in about five minutes."

"Okay."

-x-

When Ino returned to him seventeen minutes later (Naruto had been bored to death in that time, staring at his death food and trying to eat it; the good cook probably had died), she had brought a pair of scissors, a comb and a towel. She placed it on the bed.

"Before we get your hair done, could you get out of the bed for some small tests?"

Oh, how Naruto hated that word. Grumbling he got out of bed and stood up. He didn't even sway when he did so. Ino was impressed.

"Walk to the other side of the room."

He did so.

"Open the door to the bathroom."

Naruto gave her a look and a raised eyebrow, but he still did it.

"Walk over to the sink."

Naruto was seriously wondering what she wanted from him, until she appeared next to him, took a scale from under the small cabinet and pointed to it. "Get on it."

Naruto gave her a filthy glare. "Was that all? You could have asked."

"You wouldn't have done it," Ino stated simply.

This was true Naruto realised. He already weighted next to nothing normally, compared to what he should have weighted. Since the re-sealing of the fox all he'd done was lose weight instead of -like all the others of his age- gaining weight. Compared to Sasuke, who was taller than him, he weighed almost 26 kilo's less. Even compared to Kiba, who was only 2 centimetres longer, he still was 20 kilo's lighter. Right now, as Iruka had reminded him over and over these past days, he was rather skinny.

Giving a sigh he got on top of the damn thing and he looked down, afraid of what it might say.

"32.3 kg," Ino read, "As to your normal..." she was fishing for the answer.

"40.3," Naruto growled.

Remarkably Ino didn't push the matter. "Now that we are here, we can wet your hair at the sink."

Coming out of the tiny bathroom with wet dripping hair he sat on his bed again. "Do I have to sit on the chair or-?" Naruto looked around.

Ino brought a stool from the bathroom. "This will do."

-x-

As Ino was getting her stuff back together and cleaning the floor, wiping away the hair, Naruto happily admired his now short hair, that was now back to its normal length. This was so much better.

He turned back to Ino and watched how she swept the hair together. "Is there something I can do?" he asked as he crouched down beside her.

She looked at him and considered him. "You should get back to bed before Tsunade-sama notices how long you have been out of it."

"But I'm fine, I don't want to lie in the bed all day. It's boring." He looked at her sheepishly. "Plus you can make it up to me for cutting in my ear."

Ino's lip curled up. "It was an accident. Normal people don't have these obstacles hiding in their hair."

"But you know I have an extra set of ears." Naruto grinned.

"Here," Ino shoved the duster in his hand, "you can sweep the floor, it's your hair anyway."

She stood up and began folding up the towels. When she finished she sat down on the bed and studied how Naruto swept the floor. When he had everything brushed together he looked up to Ino.

"I think you have to do it from here." He handed her the duster and Ino swept the hair on a dustpan. When she looked at Naruto again he was lying on his back across the bed.

"Do you know anything else we can do? Or do you have to leave again?" he asked the ceiling.

Ino came into his vision, upside down as she had walked to the other side of the bed.

"I have to go, but I don't think you will be alone for too long. You always get a lot of visitors."

Yesterday, team Kurenai and Ino-Shika-Cho had visited him on top of his normal visitors, Sasuke, Iruka, Sakura and Tsunade. And the day before Yamato, Sai and team Guy had visited him.

"Sure, having visitors is nice, but lying in a bed all day doing nothing isn't."

"Come on Naruto, show me your stupid smile," Ino grinned.

Naruto sighed and tried to get up again. He managed eventually, though it took a bit longer than normal.

"Okay, I understand." He turned to Ino as she walked around the bed and got her stuff. "Well, thanks for the haircut."

"It's okay, just make sure when you get out of the hospital to come by the flower shop sometime." She smiled as she opened the door.

"I will," Naruto smiled back and she was gone.

He groaned; he still didn't know what to do. Walking around the hospital with the possibility of bumping into either Sakura or Tsunade or even Shizune wasn't such a great idea. They would only scold him for being out of the bed.

He would like to take a shower. He looked over to the small bathroom. It didn't have a very big shower.

He pushed his jacket a bit aside and looked at the bandage Ino had done not so long ago.

"Meh." He pushed the jacket completely away and took it off. He fumbled a bit at the bandage and finally it let go and he could take it off. He figured he could ask a nurse later to redo it and he laid the bandage on the bed.

He walked over to the shower, and pulled out his pants and boxers while sitting on the same stool as Ino had taken out earlier to give him a haircut. It wasn't easy pulling the clothes off with one hand but he managed.

As soon as the water hit his skin, his right shoulder, he felt better. Finally he was able to take a shower since a month of not being able to wash himself. He had expected he had been cleaned when he was still unconscious in the hospital and the day before yesterday a nurse had cleaned him some, but still. It's not really like showering.

Carefully he shoved his injured shoulder under the water. It stung a little as the water fell on the raw wound, but he could manage. He had stuck up with the pain for a couple of days now, he could handle this.

He put his head under the water too and let all those short, loose and itching cut hairs wash away. He let his hand rest on his stomach, tracing the lines of the seal. The fox was still healing him; his ribs he supposed.

He looked up and looked around for shampoo. He found some on the small cabinet but was now faced with his first dilemma. How would he get the shampoo in his hair? After thinking and trying for a while he decided it best to just squeeze some directly on his hair.

Suddenly he heard someone entering the hospital room and he smiled.

"Naruto?" he heard Sasuke's voice and a knock on the door.

"Sasuke, you have arrived at the right time. I'm one hand short. _Literally_," he added softly.

Sasuke entered the tiny bathroom. "Did someone tell you that you could take a shower already?" he asked.

"No, I just felt like taking one." He handed Sasuke the shampoo bottle and turned around.

"Are you stupid? What if the wound opens?" Sasuke looked sternly to Naruto's back. Nonetheless he put some shampoo on his hands and began rubbing it in Naruto's hair. He noticed it had been cut to its normal length.

"Then it will heal again. But it's okay."

"Hn." Sasuke pulled his hands back from Naruto's hair and grasped the tail, beginning to soap it too. Naruto wiggled it a bit, he didn't wash his tail that often with shampoo, but he guessed after a month it could use some.

Sasuke was done and stepped away from Naruto to wash his hands under the water of the shower. Naruto's ear twitched between the foam on his head, trying to shake off some of the soap that was dripping in it.

As Naruto tried to get the soap out of his ears with his hand he turned to face Sasuke. "You think they will let me out of the hospital soon? I'm bored."

Sasuke didn't answer. What if he got out and wanted to train or something?

"At least I can stretch my legs at home and take walks and such." He turned to the direction of the shower again. "I won't go training or something, I promise," he looked over his shoulder into Sasuke's eyes. "Will you help me convince Tsunade?"

Sasuke considered this. "Sure, I would rather have you at home with me than alone here."

"Thanks." He started washing out the shampoo. Sasuke didn't help him; he probably wanted to do as much alone as he could manage. However he did help him get dressed again and into the bed, as Naruto had said he had heard Tsunade close by.

Just as Naruto lay down in bed and hid the bandage behind the large pile of pillows Tsunade and his genin team entered the room.

"Hi guys, baa-chan," Naruto said trying to look innocent. However Tsunade wasn't fooled that easily. Besides his hair was still damp, so that was kind of a giveaway.

"Sensei!" Eri said loudly and stormed to the bed. "Are you alright? Are you in pain?" Ryomaru and Kenji came to stand next to her, both looking concerned as well, even Kenji.

"Are you-" Then Eri noticed the empty sleeve of his jacket and gasped; her dark green eyes widened.

"Your- your arm," Ryomaru stammered.

"It's gone," Kenji finished.

"What? Really? I hadn't noticed yet," Naruto said seriously, looking at his missing arm. It earned him a slap on the back of his head from Sasuke.

"Dobe!"

"What was that for?" he asked as he rubbed the back of his head. "As my team correctly observed I'm wounded. You can't hit me."

"If he hadn't, than I would have done so," Tsunade said, her hands resting on her hips, sounding rather angry. "Why is your bandage on your bed and not around your body?" she asked sternly.

Naruto grinned uncomfortably, "Heh, well it's like this, you see-"

"Spare me the excuses, gaki."

"Okay, I took a shower."

"Did Ino or Sakura say you could?"

"No."

"Then why did you do it?"

Ryomaru, Kenji and Eri looked back and forth between Tsunade and Naruto as their conversation went on, like they were watching a tennis match.

"Because I felt like taking one; hadn't washed in a month plus Ino cut my hair and I-" Naruto counted on his fingers.

"You should have asked first."

Naruto pouted. Damn, now he couldn't ask her if she would let him go home. Tsunade sighed and let her hands lower. She stepped up to Naruto and took off his jacket to bandage him again. Silence fell while Tsunade did her work and Naruto pouted all the while, looking from her to Sasuke.

"Sensei?" Ryomaru suddenly asked. Naruto turned to him; the green-haired boy was nervously wriggling his fingers against each other.

"I... We-" He looked at Eri and Kenji, then back to Naruto. He couldn't say, but Kenji could. Arrogantly he stepped forward and pulled at his leather fingerless gloves.

"Did you hear that we succeeded in handling our third C-rank mission just now?"

"No I haven't," Naruto said with raised eyebrows. He glared at Sasuke as if he wanted to ask why he hadn't told him so. He couldn't stare at Tsunade like this right now. Not if he wanted to get out of the hospital. However Sasuke seemed immune to Naruto's glare and just stared back, like he hadn't heard a word of the conversation.

Naruto looked back to his team. "That's great! Who accompanied you?"

"Shiranui Genma this last one," Eri said. "We just came back."

"And Sakura-sensei on the second mission," Ryomaru added. Eri smiled as she saw how fondly Ryomaru had said the name.

"I should've known. Why didn't she- ouch!"

Tsunade was finishing the bandaging but had accidentally poked at his shoulder. "Then don't move so much."

"But it's hard sitting still in bed all day. I want to do something."

"I'm not letting you out of the hospital yet."

Naruto took in a sharp breath. "No, but you have too. Look at those faces," he pointed to his genin team, "They need mental support on the training ground, right?" He looked at them in a way that said they had to agree for their own sake.

Eri obediently nodded. "We do!" Ryomaru looked at her and then joined in the nodding. Kenji just stared as his hands rested in the pockets of his long dark overcoat.

"And worst than them," he grabbed Sasuke's shirt and pulled him forward, "look at this sad guy, he needs me home. Look how all emotion has already left him." Sasuke gave Naruto a filthy glare which, in his turn, Naruto ignored.

Tsunade's eyes narrowed.

"Plus when that seal thing was going on, you let me recover at home too."

"That was a whole different situation."

"Like that wasn't dangerous, what if the-"

"You hadn't just lost an arm then, hadn't you?" Tsunade said sternly and rather loudly.

It became very silent in the room. His genin team looked uncomfortable but also curious at the newfound information they had heard about their sensei.

"I did just grow a tail and ears, back then," Naruto muttered, looking away from her.

Tsunade sighed. "Naruto, look, let's do it this way; I will come back at the end of the day and if I think you're ready, I will let you go home," she stared at Naruto as a smile appeared on his face. "_If,_" she repeated and emphasized the word, "I think you're ready."

"Thanks, Tsunade no-... Tsunade." Naruto grinned. Ryomaru's skill of teaching Naruto manners was actually working.

At that Tsunade left the room to get back to work. "Please keep an eye on him Uchiha." She closed the door.

"It could have gone better, but considering the situation I guess it will do." Naruto turned away from the door to his visitors.

"So, tell me all about your fantastic mission and all the other things you did in the last month."

Kenji's chest swelled up and he began talking, helped by Eri and so now and then a word from Ryomaru. Naruto grinned all the while as his team proudly told him about their adventures. Sasuke couldn't help but to give a tiny smile of his own as Naruto was so happy and proud of them.

-x-

Iruka was talking to him, but Naruto didn't hear much of it. He was talking about the academy, about some students Naruto didn't knew about. Suddenly he stopped midsentence and stared at Naruto. "You're hair has been cut."

Naruto stared at him. "Now you notice, after half an hour?"

"Sorry Naruto, I was a bit overwhelmed by what had happened at the academy." He looked at Naruto's hair for a second and continued. "Looks better this way. At least now I can see your ears again."

Naruto stuck out his tongue and Iruka smiled.

Naruto suddenly reminded something. "I almost forgot."

Iruka looked at the blond.

"I got you a very late birthday present. Sasuke and I, that is." Naruto grinned awkwardly.

"You shouldn't have-" Iruka started, but Naruto pointed to his nightstand.

"It's in the drawer. Of course I had Sasuke bring it."

Iruka opened the drawer and got the wrapped in brown paper present out of it. It was rather small. He looked up to Naruto.

"Well, it isn't much but… you'll get the idea." Naruto waved his hand for Iruka to open it.

As Iruka opened his present he smiled. "You remembered? I thought you weren't listening back then." He was referring to their conversation from almost two months ago, when he'd told Naruto about how he had really wanted a plate like this back when he was young. It had been a craze back then with the kids. He hadn't been able to get one and had been very jealous of the other children that had.

"I wasn't really paying a lot of attention I must admit, but when I was in that small cell, more or less feeling like I was losing my mind, I found it a very nice distraction to think over what you had said."

Iruka looked a little sad towards Naruto and laid his hand on his arm. "I wish I-"

"It wasn't your fault, but I wasn't finished with my story yet," Naruto said as he didn't want a discussion about where Iruka wanted to take the conversation.

Iruka looked down at his present again. It was an old rusty piece of metal with an inscription on it. It said 'THE WILL OF FIRE IS WITHIN US ALL'.

"So when I had finally figured out what you were talking about I remembered that I had once seen such a plate of metal. So I thought real hard where I had seen it.

It had been a few years ago when Sasuke and I'd had a fight. I had run into the forest and when I had been there almost the whole night I had seen this lying on the ground. I hadn't paid a lot of attention to it back then; more to the squirrel that was scurrying around it. So I asked Sasuke yesterday if he would get it for me. And tadaa…" Naruto grinned.

Iruka smiled at him. "Thank you Naruto."

-x-

It was dark outside when Sasuke entered the room with his animatedly talking son.

"-and then Sakura oba-chan had this real big apple she gave me and then-"

Naruto smiled as Akira went on and Sakura followed him inside with a gentle smile on her face.

"Hi Naruto," Sakura said.

"Hey. I heard you had a nice time with Sakura-chan, ne Akira-kun?" Naruto had heard Akira talking way back before they had even entered the room. Akira was so enthusiastic Naruto hadn't been able to miss it.

"I did! Did you know Sai-san can make sketches that come to live? He lets me draw as well and then oba-san said that she would show me-"

"-how to bandage a wound. Yes, I heard."

Akira's mouth fell open. "How did you know?"

"I hear a lot." Naruto wiggled his ears and Akira jumped up and down next to the bed out of excitement.

"You heard everything, everyday, what we were talking about?"

"Of course he didn-" Sasuke started denying, but Naruto interrupted him.

"Yeah, more or less, but you know how things go when you can hear so much. I don't feel like listening to everyone's conversations all day. Just those I'm interested in." Naruto liked to trick the boy like this.

"Really?" Akira asked overjoyed. Sakura squeezed her eyes a bit at the high sound.

Naruto nodded, Sakura rolled her eyes and Sasuke just stared at Naruto in unbelief that he had actually said that. No wonder the boy thought he had a fox form, he encouraged it himself.

After that Akira still wanted to tell what had happened and Naruto had convincingly told him he was willing to listen to it once more. Akira was talking to him and Sasuke about what had happened. He was in the middle of a story about Sakura's cooking when Tsunade entered the room again.

She looked around the room, Naruto and Sakura smiling, Akira hyperactively talking and Sasuke with a straight face. Just like how things should be, Tsunade thought.

"You still got your bandage on or did you decide to take another shower?" Tsunade asked.

"He did what?" Sakura turned from Tsunade to Naruto, sounding a bit more hysterically than she had intended.

"I just wanted to smell nice when you would come-"

"Don't lie to me Naruto," Sakura said sternly.

Akira looked uncomfortably to Sakura and slowly shuffled to the other side of the bed where Sasuke sat.

"I can take a shower when I want, besides nothing bad happened beside baa-chan freaking all out on me."

"_With good reason!_" Sakura emphasized the words.

"Tou-chan, I'm a bit scared," Akira told Sasuke honestly.

Sakura immediately closed her mouth as she had wanted to tell Naruto off some more.

"I know, she kind of is."

Sakura gave Sasuke a filthy glare. Akira shrunk again a little as he climbed up his father's lap and tried to get protection between his arms as Sasuke instinctively put his arms around Akira to protect him.

"I'm sorry Akira-kun, I didn't meant to scare you."

Naruto had almost told her that it wasn't so hard for her to become scary, but had luckily stopped himself before doing so. He still needed Tsunade's approval to leave the hospital. Tsunade was probably thinking about this as well.

"I'm not sure if I can let you go home yet," she said.

"You considered letting him go home?" Sakura asked her.

"I guess I did."

"And you will, right?" Naruto added with an innocent look, gently wiggling his ears, pouting.

"I don't think it's-"

"But isn't it better if I go home? Sasuke will be there to help me, as well as Akira-kun. I can look after Akira-kun when Sasuke is away on missions or training and I feel so much better in a comfortable place." Naruto laid down his imaginary cards on the table. "Beside you know I will only do stupid things when I stay here much longer." Naruto gave Tsunade a look that told her he was right as the trump card was thrown on the table.

Tsunade knew she had been imaginarily trumped and looked at Naruto in a way that showed that she didn't like to lose a game, a real one or an imaginary one. She sighed. "Very well, but you will stay for this night. Tomorrow you can go home. And if anything goes wrong I will personally make it worse," she added.

"Sure will."

Tsunade looked sternly toward Naruto. "I've got work to do, brat." She turned around and walked away.

"Hèhè, I'm going home tomorrow."

"Just be careful Naruto."

"Always am, you know that."

Sasuke and Sakura stared at him and Akira was slowly unfolding himself.

"You're going home with us?"

"Yeah."

Akira smiled.

-oXo-

A/N: Yes, the fight Naruto mentioned when he gave the present to Iruka was indeed something that happened in Byouki ^^

Next: 'Getting Back to Daily Life' (it's the longest chapter yet ^^)


	14. Chapter 14: Getting back to daily life

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sensei.

Special thanks to my beta MS3923, for making the story more readable for everyone :D

-oXo-

**Chapter 14: Getting back to daily life**

_20__th__ of July _

Naruto woke up to the singing of birds and Sasuke's soft breathing very early in the morning. It felt so good to wake up beside him, he sure had missed this... _a lot!_

He stared at Sasuke's face for quite a while. He showed his normal 'sleeping face'; no emotion, but Naruto could see the tiniest hint of his mouth curving up, and his peaceful breathing spoke volumes.

Naruto looked at Sasuke's soft hair, which seemed to have a bluish tint in the sunlight. He wanted to roll on his left side, but wasn't sure if he should do that. His ribs felt fine, but his shoulder was still sensitive.

Somehow he found a way in between lying on his back and on his side without hurting his shoulder too much, and he finally could bring his hand to Sasuke's hair. As he stroked a lock of hair away, Sasuke moaned softly, but he didn't open his eyes yet.

Naruto smiled and carefully shuffled closer to Sasuke, his shirt slowly crawling up some from the movement. Now Sasuke did open his eyes. His eyes didn't fully open; he still looked sleepy. Slowly his dark eyelashes fluttered open, and he stared back into Naruto's overly blue eyes, as the sun shone onto the both of them. He was glad they had their warmth back.

Naruto's hand left Sasuke's hair, and pushed his bare chest over so he lay on his back. Slowly he crawled on top of Sasuke, like he was always keen on doing, and they lay like that. Sasuke had his eyes closed again. Naruto slowly rose with every breath Sasuke took, and then descended again. He smiled as he listened to Sasuke's heartbeat. Hanging on a wall for a month could really make you appreciate the small things.

But he still was Naruto, and after a while he had to move. He pushed himself up a little and began kissing and licking Sasuke's torso, as he pulled his legs up beside Sasuke, and sat on his groin, on purpose. Sasuke began making soft sounds of pleasure, and Naruto grinned as he went to all the places he knew Sasuke liked so much. His one hand lay in the crook of Sasuke's neck so he could pull himself up when necessary.

Slowly Sasuke's right hand travelled up Naruto's body under his shirt, which gave him goose bumps. Sasuke could feel his ribs, he was still skinny.

-L-

Slowly Naruto began shifting on the place he sat. The hand stopped, and Sasuke softly gasped. Naruto liked to tease Sasuke. He stayed doing this up to the point he could feel it was time to move lower... and lower. Naruto disappeared under the sheets completely, and Sasuke felt Naruto slowly push down his boxers with his one hand.

Naruto grinned as he knew Sasuke hated him for being so slow, but was unable to say anything about it as he also liked it. Finally Naruto had pushed the boxer far enough away, even he had to admit it had taken longer than normal, but he only had one hand. He waited a second and then began licking again.

Sasuke made some movements and soft groans, and Naruto laid his hand on Sasuke's hip. Naruto's tongue was so soft and he still knew what places to move his tongue over to make Sasuke moan in delight.

As Sasuke was about to approach his high, he heard a purring sound coming from under the sheets. Naruto apparently was having fun as well.

Sasuke breath hitched as he came, and felt the wonderful sensation that went with it. Panting slightly he looked down his chest as he felt Naruto pull up his boxers again and move up his body. Blond hair emerged from under the sheets. Again, Naruto lay down on Sasuke and listened to Sasuke's breathing slowly calm down. Only then he looked up to Sasuke.

-L-

"That was to apologize for biting you," he literally purred. "Do you accept it," he asked with a fake sad face.

Sasuke grinned. "I think so. I'm not sure yet."

Naruto poked him.

"Okay, I accept."

It was silent for a moment as they lay there. Sasuke's hand was fumbling with Naruto's hair.

"I'm really sorry about what I said to you. I was being stupid and I didn't consider how hard this was for you as well." Naruto was tracing circles on Sasuke's pale chest.

Sasuke looked down to Naruto, who was staring outside at a bird. He started giving Naruto a sort of head massage and when he began scratching the base of his ears, Naruto stirred as a nice spark went up his spine. Naruto smiled.

"I'm sorry too," Sasuke said as he knew that he had been talking about their fight from over a month ago. "I really, really missed you." Sasuke pulled Naruto firmly against his chest for a second. "I'm sorry," he said again with a sad voice that was shivering slightly.

"You don't have to apologize for anything. I was stupid and selfish, not thinking about your feelings at all. It was all I could think about in that chamber." Naruto hugged Sasuke firmly. "I'm really sorry."

"I know... We've both been stupid." Sasuke saw no way to talk around Naruto's guilt even though he felt equally guilty.

Naruto began tracing circles again, and Sasuke began to snigger all of a sudden.

"I wonder what kind of apology you will give me for that?" he suddenly said.

Naruto looked up. "You wish."

Sasuke grinned. "It was worth a try."

"Pervert," Naruto moaned as Sasuke kept scratching him behind the ears and Sasuke could feel his tail moving under the sheets. "Let's stay like this forever…" Silence. "Okay, forever is a bit long."

"You couldn't even make it past fifteen minutes."

"Yeah," Naruto admitted and at that his stomach rumbled.

"I think I'll get you something to eat."

"I can still do things myself, even with one arm."

"I know; just want to be sure you eat enough."

"I know I'm skinny. Iruka-sensei told me often enough the past few days." He stopped tracing circles.

"He's ri-"

"Don't even say it. I already know I didn't eat a lot last month, I was there."

Sasuke started to get up and Naruto let himself be pushed up as he stayed lying against Sasuke. He was now sitting on Sasuke's lap. "What are we having for breakfast?"

"Something off the list Sakura wrote for your diet."

Naruto stared at Sasuke. It probably was his own fault for asking what they would have for breakfast. Sakura had made a list of what he should eat at what time of the day to gain some weight.

Sasuke stayed silent and instead tried to pry himself from under Naruto. Finally free, he went for a quick shower as Naruto walked out of the room to wake Akira up.

-x-

Naruto sat leaning against the tree in their garden, munching on a carrot, enjoying the sun. Sasuke had told him Kakashi and Anko would come to visit in a moment.

Akira was darting around in his pyjamas, having escaped Sasuke's rule (and will) of him getting dressed before noon. He was giggling as he ran around in the garden, up and down, up and down.

"Butterfly!" He suddenly shouted.

Akira turned his head to Naruto as he was bending over a flower with a butterfly sitting on top. "Could it be caterpillar-san?" he turned back to the butterfly and started to ask it questions. "Are you caterpillar-san? How are you doing?"

Naruto smiled as he ate the last part of the carrot. He couldn't believe he had ever done things like that, but he hadn't had a garden or a nice house to live in with a family when he was young.

The butterfly flew away, and Akira followed it to the back of the garden.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto just stared at Akira as Sasuke sat down next to him. Together they watched how Akira asked the butterfly some other questions, when a second butterfly came to sit on a flower next to the other butterfly. Akira was amazed. "Are _you_ caterpillar-san?"

"What's it like to lose your mother?" Naruto suddenly asked. "Must be... awful?" he added quietly.

Sasuke looked down to Naruto; they never really spoke about things like this.

"Yeah, it is." Sasuke laid his hand on Naruto's shoulder (the good one). "But he got us to help him through it."

"Yeah." Naruto still wasn't looking at Sasuke, and Sasuke let his hand gradually fall from Naruto.

"You had no one to be there for you." Naruto looked sadly into Sasuke's eyes. Sasuke hadn't expected Naruto to say that. "You must have felt so horrible and alone," Naruto hugged Sasuke, and Sasuke was a bit stunned to say the least, but hugged Naruto back nonetheless.

"It _was_ horrible."

"You lost everything that day."

Sasuke didn't know how to reply. He _had_ lost everything that day.

"And you saw it all."

He had, through Itachi's Tsukoyomi.

"Everyone you knew and cared about."

"Naruto, what's wrong?" Sasuke asked again, not understanding where Naruto was going with this.

"I just never really..." He grasped Sasuke's shirt tightly in his hand. "I never really lost everything. I lost someone very important to me, but I wasn't alone then."

"You were alone before."

"You lost everything."

"You already said that." Naruto made it almost sound he wanted to show Sasuke how miserable his life had been.

"But you _lost_ everything; I didn't have anything to begin with."

Suddenly it hit Sasuke. Was this about him losing his arm? Was he beginning to understand what it had done to him?

"And I still don't really understand you, do I?"

"Huh?"

"At the Valley of the End I thought I understood you, I didn't, not at all. When Ero-sennin... and then Pein... I thought I really did understand you then. I still didn't, and I still don't even now, do I?"

"Naruto, you're beginning to freak me out, what's going on?" Sasuke held Naruto away from his chest so he could look at Naruto in the face. His eyes where glassy and wet, but no tears where falling.

"I just. When I was hanging there... I thought- I thought about a lot of things. I couldn't move or do anything else."

Naruto looked down as he bit his lip. "I began to understand that I don't really know how you felt, what it felt like to lose... family and then when Akira came here; when Akiharu came to give you your son... I probably will never really understand what that did to you." Naruto bowed his head.

"But I think, just a little bit, I think I might get what you were trying to say to me; what you were trying to tell me back then when we fought in the forest. About what you felt and what having a son did to you. You had a family again and were perhaps even afraid of losing it again. Even so I probably don't _really_ understand." Naruto looked up to Sasuke again.

"You joked about how I could apologize to you for it this morning, but the truth is I could never... I could never apologize to you enough. This must have been so hard for you." Naruto grasped Sasuke's shirt again and pressed himself against his chest.

"Naruto," Sasuke sadly said as he laid his arm around the smaller man's back. "You don't have to apologize at all, you never have to." Naruto gasped. "You see, we're not that different? You perhaps can never really understand me when it comes to what I've lost, but I probably can never really understand you and your big heart." He placed a hand on Naruto's chest over his heart.

"You managed to forgive Pein after what he'd done; if only I had been able to do that, to understand such a thing..." Sasuke hugged Naruto more tightly. "I will never really understand how you can do all these things; forgive a village that made your life miserable, even wanting to _protect_ them. How you can make people aware of their mistakes and bring them back, like you did with me."

"You came back yourself," Naruto smiled.

"To you."

"You didn't even like me back then."

"I did."

"Liar."

"I'm not lying, I'm being honest."

"I still don't believe you."

"But I did, I tell you."

"I didn't like you back them."

Silence.

"Not even a little?"

"Nope; not like that."

Sasuke grinned. "You see what I mean?"

"Huh?"

"You cannot lie." Sasuke pushed Naruto back once more and Naruto was pouting at him. "Because your heart is so big."

"And mine? Do I have a big heart? Can you tell?"

"Akira-kun?"

"How long have you been standing there?"

"From the 'you're a liar' part," Akira smiled.

Naruto and Sasuke stared at the small boy, who was totally unaware of the situation from before the 'you're a liar' part.

"Well, can you tell?"

"You got the biggest one of all," Naruto said.

"The way you treat animals and easily make friends," Sasuke added.

"Really?"

"Except, there's one small thing that is letting your heart shrink just a bit every second," Sasuke said, narrowing his eyes.

Akira's widened. "What? What is it?"

"You don't listen to your father when he says you have to get dressed before noon."

Akira gasped. "But you never said that would happen!" he yelled back shocked.

"But it's not too late yet. There hasn't been any real damage that cannot be restored."

"How? Tell me what I must do," Akira threw himself over Naruto and Sasuke. "Please, tell me, I want a big heart!"

"Kakashi hasn't seen you in your pyjamas yet."

Akira gasped dramatically. "He isn't here yet," he said as he looked around, like he expected Kakashi to appear any moment.

"You can still make it, quickly."

Akira nodded and ran as fast as he could inside to get dressed.

"You're mean," Naruto told Sasuke as he smirked.

"Then he should have listened the first time I told him to get dressed."

"But still." Naruto gave Sasuke a stern look, but couldn't really keep the smile off his own face.

Sasuke laughed and Naruto couldn't refrain from smiling himself.

-x-

"I told you so." It wasn't something Naruto got to say a lot, but when he could he sure took his chance.

Kakashi grinned. "You actually did."

"Haha, I told you so!" Naruto smiled.

Anko's eyebrows were so high, they would have disappeared under her hitai-ate if she had worn it.

"Yes, Naruto I know."

"You actually talked about us going to live together?" Anko asked.

"It was just passing by," Kakashi told her. "Naruto was bored," he whispered.

"I wasn't. I was seriously asking."

"Maa, maa, does it really matter?" Kakashi smiled to himself, remembering their conversation from over three months ago.

_Naruto turned his head slightly to his left and twitched his ear. As he turned his head back he continued, "When are you going to move in with her? I understand you are together almost every evening anyway."_

_Kakashi looked a bit surprised at that, but since Naruto couldn't see that, he hadn't given anything away. "Aah," he said like he was thinking, "Could be tomorrow, could be in ten years." _

_Naruto glared blindly at him (a bit to Kakashi's left, but the intent was there). "Right. Probably in two months."_

"I was right."

"You actually said in two months, if I remember correctly."

"June doesn't count, I wasn't there. Plus you already got together then, didn't you?" Naruto stood on his toes to look up to Kakashi.

Silence.

"He's smarter than he looks, with his dumb face."

"Hé!"

Anko laughed. "Or have you been spying on us?"

"Why would I want to do that?" Naruto scrunched up his nose.

"Well, not that you would be able to pull that off anyway," Anko told him.

"Teme~"

"Sasuke's over there," Anko told Naruto as she pointed to his right.

"I was talking to you."

"You know, you actually are quite cute when you get angry," Anko patted his head. "Good boy."

Naruto growled. "I'm not a boy."

"Sorry Pinocchio. Good kitsune-cha~n."

"Can I pat him too?"

"No," Naruto said as Anko answer sounded at the same time, "Sure, I'll lift you up."

"Tell her to stop it," Naruto told Kakashi as Anko started to lift Akira up.

"Maa, maa, Anko. Stop teasing the kid, you know he can't handle that very well."

"Kakashi-sensei~"

"Sorry Akira-chan, seems Naruto has changed his mind." Anko put Akira back down.

"Ow," Akira said as he looked down disappointed.

"Don't make me the bad guy," Naruto told Anko.

Anko stuck out her tongue to Naruto. Naruto knew that game as well.

Sasuke sighed as Naruto stuck out his tongue. "Really, sometimes I wonder who the kid is around here," he said as Akira grasped his pants and leaned against Sasuke's leg.

"Him."

"Her."

"You really sure you want to live together with her? It's not too late yet," Sasuke asked Kakashi as he had to look a bit down to his sensei.

"What makes you still live with Naruto then?"

"I was too late before I realized."

"Not so smart."

"I know."

Sasuke and Kakashi looked over to Anko and Naruto as they were proceeding to pull weird faces at each other.

"Can I join them, tou-chan?"

-x-

A couple of hours later, Naruto and Sasuke were standing in the garden again. Naruto had just been watering the flowers in the garden and Sasuke had just been watching him. Anko and Kakashi had left a while ago.

Sasuke looked over all the different flowers, the beautiful blue cornflowers, daffodils, red, orange and yellow gerberas, red amaryllises, purplish-blue hydrangea and all kinds of coloured aquilegia. Most of those flowers had been picked out by Naruto, some by Sasuke and a few had just sprouted by themselves. Sakura had also recommended a few herbs they could use in the kitchen while cooking, and Sasuke actually did use them.

"You like them?" Naruto asked as he came to stand next to Sasuke, admiring the garden as well.

"Naruto, there's still something I need to tell you. About being a ninja." Sasuke slowly looked into Naruto's eyes. He almost couldn't do it, but he had to tell Naruto sometime about no longer being able to be a ninja.

Naruto had sort of caught on to Sasuke's serious tone of voice. "I know I can't go training, not for quite a while, but frankly, I don't really want to yet." Naruto slowly looked back over the garden.

"You don't?" Sasuke asked. He had underestimated Naruto. He had been so afraid of what this information of not being able to be a shinobi would do to Naruto that he hadn't seen that Naruto might already know.

Naruto didn't want to train because he was afraid for reality and facing that what Sasuke had just tried to say, might be true.

"Well of course I do, I always want to." There was a short pause. "But at the same time I don't. It's hard to explain." He stared into Sasuke's black orbs. "But I guess you understand."

What Sasuke saw in those big blue eyes was the confirmation of what he had just thought about. Fear, something Naruto had abandoned long ago, was glistering behind the façade of everything being fine.

Naruto took a step forward, let the empty watering can fall and hugged Sasuke. Sasuke slowly brought his arms up to return the hug; when he did he took Naruto tightly in his arms.

Naruto's hand traveled from the small of Sasuke's back to his shoulder. His cheek rested on the same shoulder and then he noticed something. With his fingers he pulled back the neck of Sasuke's long-sleeved shirt. He saw a biting mark or what was left of it. It looked rather vague with the exception of two deep puncture holes that were still visible as a crust had formed on them.

Naruto stared at it, let the shirt go and laid his head back.

Sasuke was waiting for Naruto's reaction.

"Ne, Sasuke?"

"Hn?"

"That is from me biting you, isn't it?"

"It is."

"Did it hurt?"

"A bit."

"Still?"

"No."

A pause followed.

"Why haven't you let it be healed then?" Naruto asked almost monotonous, like they were having a casual conversation.

"You were priority; this was just a minor thing," Sasuke answered in the same casual way.

"Sorry," Naruto suddenly said, "for biting you." He didn't really sound very apologetic though.

"You were really hungry, you couldn't help it. Plus you already made up for it."

Naruto grinned. "I guess so. Did I do other things besides biting you?"

"You snapped at my hand, but I can handle that."

"Hmpf, I remember."

They stood there like this with the sun shining on them. Sasuke's back felt nice and warm from the sun. He couldn't believe the way Naruto had handled the thruth, about being a ninja. He couldn't believe he hadn't seen that Naruto already knew. He couldn't believe Naruto was with him again. He felt so good, so nice and warm; the warm sun shining on his back, Naruto on the other side as if warming him from the inside.

He nuzzled Naruto's hair and pressed him closer to his chest. He would never let Naruto go ever again. His hand travelled over all the familiar places of Naruto's back, his hips, his waist and finally rested on the small of his back and the other on the back of Naruto's head.

He was back, he was finally back. He had already been back home since the 17th, but Sasuke hadn't really been able to believe it until now. He hadn't dared to believe it until now, afraid he might be dreaming. But Naruto was back. He was really back!

"Hmm, the sun feels good, ne?"

Sasuke nodded.

"Tou-chan!"

Sasuke sighed and let Naruto go to face Akira properly. Naruto turned around and his empty sleeve swayed in the wind as he did so.

Apparently Akira was waiting for the 'what?' or 'go on' but it didn't come. Big teal eyes stared expectantly to the two adults. Finally he decided the silence meant he could start talking.

"Look what I found in the front garden?" He very proudly held up a small slow-worm by its tail.

"So?" Sasuke asked. Naruto shoved him in his side rather roughly with his elbow.

Sasuke gave him a quick glance and sighed once more. "That's nice." It sounded a bit forced but Akira didn't notice.

"Can I show Sakura no oba-san?"

"Hèhè, that could be funny." Naruto grinned and sat down on his hunches holding his hand up to his mouth as he continued. "But I would suggest an even funnier approach then just showing it to her," he whispered.

Akira was all ears. "What then?" he whispered back secretly, his eyes glimmering as the slow-worm squirmed and curled in his hand

"I like this boy," Naruto said as he looked up to Sasuke.

"Don't go teach him to play pranks or I will kick you."

Naruto pouted. "Maybe next time, Akira-kun," he said softly to the boy and he stood up again.

"Just put it back in the garden." And with that Sasuke went back inside.

"Is tou-chan mad at me?"

"I guess he just doesn't really like snakes anymore."

"Oh, but it's a slow-_worm_. It's a lizard actually."

"It looks more like a snake, doesn't it?"

Akira nodded.

"Let's go inside and get something to drink."

"Hm." Akira nodded again, a smile coming back on his face.

"Don't forget to put the animal back."

At that Akira ran around the house and Naruto stepped up the porch to get inside.

-x-

They were sitting on the floor at the table with the sliding doors to the back garden open. The sun was shining on the table as they were drinking tea.

"Tou-chan?"

"Hn?" Sasuke glanced from the corners of his eyes to his left. Akira was fumbling a bit with his new shirt. Sasuke had given him a black shirt with the Uchiha fan on the back.

"What does Uchiha mean?"

Sasuke turned his head to his son. "You mean to ask what does being an Uchiha mean?"

Akira nodded. Of course the boy knew Uchiha or uchiwa meant fan.

"That you are-" Sasuke stopped. How should he answer this? In the past he would have told him right away, but now he didn't really know actually. He'd never really thought about it ever since he'd killed Itachi and later Madara.

After a couple of minutes Sasuke still hadn't continued his sentence and Akira was still patiently waiting.

"If you're like your dad, and you really look like him," Naruto decided to intervene, "than you are a proud member of your clan, you appreciate your family, are loyal to them and in Sasuke's case a bit of a prick sometimes."

Sasuke stared at him, his eyes a bit narrowed.

"But I guess you look more after your mother when it comes to that."

"But you- we don't have other family, right?" Akira asked carefully.

Naruto looked over to Sasuke, who turned a bit dark.

"Tell him, he will find out anyway when he will go to school."

For a while Sasuke didn't do anything, he didn't move nor spoke. Then he started talking.

"We were a big clan, we even had a separate part of Konoha where we lived. We lived there proud of ourselves, founders and head of the police force; perhaps a bit too proudly." Sasuke bowed his head.

"One evening when I got back from the academy, the whole clan had been murdered."

Akira gasped. "Why?"

"That's not something for now."

Akira knew he shouldn't push it. He already knew his father quite well.

"My brother, Itachi, had killed everyone, except for me."

Akira was beginning to regret he had asked the question in the first place. His father's face told him he didn't like talking about this; like he was forced by Naruto to tell him this.

Akira looked to Naruto. He looked quite serious as well, but Akira's thoughts were stopped by Sasuke as he spoke again.

"I followed after him and had my revenge."

Akira gasped again. "And now we are the only ones?" he asked innocently.

"Yes." Sasuke looked at the table. The next part was hard to say, but he could do it. He could tell Akira, he was his son after all. He had to say it. "But at least I'm not alone anymore. I got you now." A tiny smile appeared on his face.

Akira cheered up as well. "And I got tou-chan," he said as he hugged Sasuke.

Sasuke's smile broadened. "You do." He hugged Akira back.

"Plus we got a Naruto, right?"

Naruto laughed. _A _Naruto? It had sounded like he was a pet or something.

"We got Naruto too," Sasuke confirmed.

After Akira pulled back from the hug, he nestled himself on Sasuke's lap like he liked to do a lot lately.

Sasuke didn't say anything about it, but his face spoke volumes to Naruto; Sasuke didn't want to accept it, but at the same time he couldn't refuse it either. Deep down Naruto knew he actually liked it.

Akira gulped down his tea and put the cup down on the table. He looked at Naruto who was now staring into the garden. His ears turned to sudden directions at times as he listened to the outside sounds.

A light breeze came through the open garden doors and shadows from the leaves of the trees danced on the table.

When Akira looked up to his father's face he saw him looking at Naruto as well. A small smile was spread on his face. It seemed like he was staring at Naruto and didn't notice (or didn't let Akira notice that he noticed) that Akira looked at him.

The chibi looked back to Naruto who was now supporting his head on his hand and had his eyes closed. Akira expected he was tired as he slept a lot lately. However his ears were still moving.

Akira was convinced that Naruto had been a fox once that had turned into a human. Of course he had never asked this, but he just knew. How else did he get those fox ears and tail? And those whiskers on his face; only a fox turned human could have that. Akira glanced down to the tail that slowly swept from left to right.

Akira had learned the hard way a few years ago to never pull at the tail of an animal. They did not like that. The dog that Akira had pestered by pulling his tail had bitten him in the arm. He still got small scars from where the bite marks were.

His mother had told him not to be afraid of the dog, that it had only bitten him because it was angry. It was just like when someone would pull his hair, he wouldn't like that either. And so Akira felt very brave when he had dared to pet the same dog later that day; his mother proud of him.

Perhaps it had been so 'easy' for him because he just liked animals so much. He especially liked cats and beetles; those big shiny black ones with horns. And now that he lived with his father he thought he was the same, for he liked Naruto very much. Except he didn't like snakes so it seemed, but Akira himself didn't really like flies too, so that was possible.

Akira smiled as his train of thought proceeded on recalling animals he liked. Until he felt his father's hands under his armpits and he was heaved to the floor on his left. When he looked up he saw why: Naruto had fallen asleep and was slowly falling over. Sasuke saved him from the fall by slowly directing him to lie on a blanket on the floor.

Akira smiled. Only foxes could lie around and sleep all day just like cats.

* * *

><p>It was 6:00 in the morning. A week had passed and Sasuke was standing in the kitchen making himself some breakfast.<p>

He'd left a purring Naruto behind in bed, who was still sleeping. He knew that if he didn't wake Naruto up he could sleep through half the day as that was normally the case. Now with the after-effects of the abduction, Naruto was still healing and slept a lot during the day (and night) but when he was awake he had too much energy to just sit still and do nothing.

Sasuke thought how he could catch up on some reports and stuff he had been lacking behind. So he settled himself behind the kitchen table and hoped he would finish it before Akira woke up. Akira was, just like him, a morning person and woke up early. He thought that maybe if he didn't wake him up he might actually sleep till 9:00 for once; it had been rather late for Akira the night before.

The warm sun was shining upon him through the kitchen window, and finally he finished his work. It was 8:36. Sasuke smiled a small smile. He wanted to become an ANBU, even though he knew he wouldn't become one anytime soon with his fresh parenthood dropped on him, but he was already working towards it. He didn't mind being a jounin though.

Not that long after Sasuke had finished and was making himself some tea, his chibi came walking into the kitchen.

"Ohaaaaayo," Akira yawned. He was rubbing the sleep from his eyes and sat down at the table.

Sasuke made him some toast even thought the kid was perfectly capable of doing that himself, but did it anyway (probably something fatherly, he didn't knew exactly why himself). Akira began slowly munching his food while watching his father walk thought the kitchen making a groceries list.

"If Naruto isn't out of bed by noon, you can wake him up," Sasuke told his son.

"Can I?" Akira asked excited.

"Yes." Sadistic kid, he had that from his mother…

Sasuke cleaned Akira's plate and Akira was about to go to the living room to play.

"You want to take a small walk to the park before I go on my mission?" Sasuke asked slowly.

Akira's face lit up. "Yes!" he said happily.

"Let's go then."

Sasuke left a note for Naruto, just in case that in a rare exception he did wake up early, he would know where they went, and then he and Akira left the house. Akira was hopping, and when Sasuke looked down he saw he didn't had his sandal on properly.

"Wait, Akira."

Akira turned back as Sasuke hunched down. Sasuke pointed to his own knee and Akira looked at it. "Sit down."

Akira sat down on Sasuke's knee and looked up to him, wondering what was wrong.

"Your sandal," Sasuke said as he pulled it off and back on correctly.

Akira just kept watching at his father's face with a smile. He liked his father's black eyes, all dark and shiny, like beetles. They were beautiful. He reached up a hand to Sasuke's face as Sasuke finished with the sandal and looked to him.

"I like your eyes," Akira said as he touched Sasuke's cheek. Sasuke smiled.

"Your eyes are nicer." He set Akira on the ground and they started walking again.

"Why?" Akira asked as he had to take at least two to three steps where Sasuke just took one.

Sasuke looked down again. "They are like the ocean."

"You've seen the ocean?" Akira asked.

"Yes."

"I never have," Akira said sadly and he looked down.

Sasuke grasped Akira's hand and Akira looked back up. "I'll take you sometime, okay?"

"You will?" Akira was happy again and his small hand gripped Sasuke's tighter. Sasuke's answer was a smile.

In the park Akira ran around, pointing out all sorts of flowers and animals. Sasuke wasn't really paying attention as he slowly walked on; he just enjoyed the walk.

Akira came running to him, showing a beetle and then ran back to put it on a tree. Some more animals and flowers were shown to him. So when Sasuke eventually walked out of the park again, Akira had probably made trice the distance Sasuke had.

However just before Sasuke turned around to call Akira to leave the park, Akira tripped and Sasuke heard a soft sobbing sound from behind a tree trunk.

"I fell," Akira said as Sasuke bowed over him and he looked up with tears in his eyes. His knee was bleeding.

"Does it hurt?" Sasuke asked as he knelt down next to the small boy.

"A bit," Akira tried to be brave in front of his father.

"Come here," Sasuke said as he lifted Akira up and placed him on his hip. "We need to get it cleaned."

"I want a nice band-aid," Akira said softly as he sniffed.

Sasuke didn't answer; he didn't think they had any 'nice' band-aids.

So Sasuke carried Akira back home, holding him against his chest and slowly a smile came back on Akira's face.

"That was fun," Akira said as Sasuke walked through a street not far from their home. He held his arms around Sasuke's neck and was looking over his shoulder.

"Tou-chan?" Akira asked softly.

"Hm?"

"Do you hurt a lot?"

Sasuke was silent for a moment, thinking about what Akira had asked. At first he hadn't even been sure what he'd been asked. "As a ninja I get wounded every once in a while, but mostly just bruises and small cuts. You get used to it."

"You like being a ninja?"

"I do."

"Kaa-chan didn't like ninjas."

"Even though she'd been one herself."

"I didn't know. Why did she hate them then?" Akira asked surprised. His mother had told him nothing but bad things about ninjas.

"Because she thought being a ninja was only about hurting and fighting each other."

Akira was silent for a moment. "I don't understand."

"She thought ninjas only fought each other because they like fighting and hurting other people, so they could rule over them."

"Then what is a ninja?"

"Of course ninjas fight, but they don't fight all the time. They help people, protect them or help them with other chores and requests they cannot fulfil themselves."

"Like oba-san; she heals people?"

"It can be like Sakura, by making them better, but it can also be like Naruto and me; we help a client; like to protect him from robbers or bring important messages to other villages. We don't fight all the time and when we do, we don't fight for ourselves, we fight for others, for the people that hire us and those we want to protect."

"Like Hokage-sama?"

"Yes, like Hokage-sama, that's why she is such a great ninja and everyone respects her."

"Oh," Akira had difficulty understanding that, but he could understand it a little.

"Naruto also wants to be Hokage, he wants to protect everyone that he loves and the whole village."

"Really?"

"Yes." Sasuke lifted Akira up again as he had been sliding down a bit.

"You think he can?" Akira asked after a while, thinking about a fox becoming Hokage.

"Yes, I believe in him." Sasuke smiled.

They were now in their own street and neared the house.

"I think my knee stopped bleeding," Akira said as he pointed to his knee, though Sasuke could not see that.

When his knee was cleaned it turned out to be a small scratch and Akira was a bit disappointed to find out they had no nice band-aids in the house.

"I have to go now. Don't forget to wake Naruto up."

"I won't. Bye tou-chan." Akira happily waved.

-x-

Naruto was having a nice dream; it had to do with ramen, a lot of ramen. When suddenly someone jumped on top of his stomach.

"Ugh." Naruto opened his eyes and looked up to Akira as he was about to jump again. "Wait, stop. I'm awake."

Akira looked down to Naruto to find him indeed awake. "Tou-chan said I could wake you if you weren't awake when the hands pointed to the twelve."

"What?" Naruto asked as he tried to figure out what Akira had said and tried to sit up. Akira had made a very nice landing close to his bladder and now Naruto really needed to go to the bathroom.

"Before noon," Akira happily said as he pointed to the alarm clock.

"Ah, sure." Naruto folded the blankets away and wanted to step out of the bed when Akira stopped him by sitting in front of him. Naruto blinked. Akira blinked back. "What?"

"I've been to the park with tou-chan."

"That's very nice." Naruto made to move around Akira and Akira moved with him. "Akira-kun, I need to go to the bathroom."

"Okay."

Naruto was finally able to empty his bladder. After dressing up he walked downstairs into the kitchen and saw Akira placing a bowl on the table as yoghurt was already standing there.

"Look, I put everything on the table for you," Akira said happily.

"Ah, arigatou." Naruto didn't dare say he actually never had yoghurt for breakfast, especially not in the afternoon, but to show his gratitude he ate it nonetheless.

Akira went to stand behind him and watched his tail as it swirled around between the rugs of the chair. Naruto always thought it funny Akira liked watching his tail when they sat on these chairs. He only watched, he never touched the tail or even tried to take a hold of it. So Naruto had no problems with it.

Suddenly Naruto let his tail fall and it hung still. Akira waited for it to move again, but it didn't. So after a while he took a step forward, to take a closer look.

This was what Naruto had waited for and swayed the tail into Akira's face on purpose. "Hehe," he grinned.

"Pffft," Akira tried to blow away the hairs from his face. "Naruto~," he pouted.

"I'm sorry, I just had to do that," Naruto said as he leant over the back of the chair and pulled back his tail. Akira looked up a bit angry and then walked over to the other chair and sat down on it with his arms crossed and still pouting.

Naruto just continued to eat his brunch and noticed Akira was slowly forgetting to be angry as his arms lowered and he started swaying his legs. It was then that Naruto noticed the band-aid.

"Did you fall this morning?"

All anger was gone in an instant and replaced by enthusiasm. "Yes, when we were in the park I fell and tou-chan carried me _all the way_ back," he said with quite a loud and overly happy voice. Naruto was used to it (he used to do it himself all the time... okay perhaps he still did).

"Did he?"

"Uhuh," Akira nodded and then his face fell a little. "But we didn't have any nice band-aids, so I just got a plain brown one."

Naruto almost laughed at the sad face the boy made when he was talking about a band-aid. Suddenly he stood up and walked to a kitchen drawer, opened it and grasped something out of it. He walked back, put the marker he'd just obtained in his mouth, hunched down and took the cap off. He drew a spiral on the band-aid. He was good at drawing spirals, but nothings else much.

"Ooh, a fish cake, draw a fish cake."

And so Naruto drew a naruto on the boy's band-aid.

"Tadaa, nice band-aid," Naruto said as he had replaced the cap, his mouth free to speak again.

"Yay."

-x-

Naruto sat up between the couch and the table as he'd been lying on the floor when he heard his genin team walk toward the house. He laid the book (Sasuke's doing) he had been trying to read away and he rested his arm on the table. Akira was playing in his room upstairs.

"You can come in!" Naruto shouted to the approaching genins. The front door was open; Naruto liked a nice breeze through the house as the doors to the porch where open as well.

"Sensei!" Eri greeted as she was followed by Ryomaru and a grumpy looking Kenji.

"Hey," Naruto greeted. "What's wrong with you, Kenji?"

Kenji sat down, grumbling to himself and turned his back to Naruto.

"We just came from a mission and we thought of passing by," Eri said as she watched Kenji's back as well.

Ryomaru leaned closer to Naruto and started whispering. "We had to w-watch over a little girl for the mission as her parents were gone and s-she really liked Kenji."

"Stupid girl," Kenji grumbled.

"She loved him," Eri said, not even bothering to keep her voice down. "And she sure made that clear in every possible way she could."

"I hate girls."

"We know that Kenji-kun," Eri said.

"So what did she do then?" Naruto asked curiously.

"She just gave him a peck on the cheek when we had to go again. Kenji-kun couldn't move away from her, because her parents were there then."

Naruto laughed softly.

"I think it's weird," Eri said as she put her hand on her chin. Kenji looked over his shoulder to her, his soft yellow eyes narrowing. "There is finally someone that likes you and you think she's annoying," Eri grinned.

Kenji grunted and turned his back to her again. "Very funny, Eri."

Ryomaru couldn't suppress a small snigger either.

"You don't like Kenji then?" Naruto asked Eri, pretending to be shocked.

"What?" Eri asked, turning instantly red as she didn't notice Naruto was teasing her. "No, of course not!" she shouted as she gripped the purple fabric of the front piece of her dress.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Naruto didn't sound sorry in the slightest and so his genins noticed. Kenji growled something Naruto didn't want to repeat, Eri huffed and folded her arms and Ryomaru was just staring from the one to the other, unsure about what to do.

"So, Ryomaru, you must like Sakura-chan teaching you on the field, or do you see her too much now?"

"No, not at all. I like her- I mean I like it," Ryomaru began looking around at anything but living things around him and turned as red as the collar of his shirt, as he had misspoken.

Naruto had not intended to do this to Ryomaru, he had just wanted to change the subject, and tried to make it up. "Well, because I thought you guys would like a different sensei for a time."

Kenji turned around, hopeful for it to be that one person, Eri let her arms drop and Ryomaru just sat still, looking at Naruto's chest instead of his face.

"You mean to say-" Kenji started, slowly turning around.

"-that you got us a different sensei?" Eri ended.

"A substitute, yes, just for some variation and because I think they can teach you something new."

"They?" Kenji asked.

"Yes, they," Naruto smiled.

"Who?" Eri asked curiously.

"They are quite famous within the village."

"Who?" Eri asked more urgently, unable to contain herself.

"I believe them to have the best teamwork of all Konoha teams."

"Teamwork?" Kenji asked, knowing what that meant. _Not_ a_gain about the teamwork…_

"Yes, teamwork," Naruto repeated.

"Who?" Eri wanted to know and was sitting on her knees, hanging over the table now.

"You want to know who?" Naruto asked as he looked at Eri, who began to think Naruto was teasing her.

"Yes, sensei~," she wined, which only made Ryomaru more interested as well.

"Team-" Naruto suddenly stopped. "Hmm, maybe I should not tell you yet so you can find out on the field tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Ryomaru asked softly.

But he was over-voiced by Eri. "But then we don't know who we are supposed to meet. What if some imposter comes by? What if-"

"Just tell us!" Kenji said with a pressing voice.

Naruto began laughing. "All right, all right." Naruto waited for his team to calm down and sit back before he proceeded. "It's team Ino-Shika-Cho."

"Really?" was Eri's enthusiastic reply.

"Ino?" Kenji asked with a frown, almost pursing his lips.

"Ino-sensei?" Ryomaru asked, but on a way different tone than Kenji had, almost with as much enthusiasm as Eri had.

"Ah, you know her, don't you?" their sensei asked Ryomaru and Kenji.

"She's a very good medic ninja and also gives classes sometimes when Sakura-sensei can't."

Kenji grumbled.

"That's great," Eri said and Ryomaru looked down at the table again, making circles with his finger. He nodded.

"Isn't Ino family of yours, Kenji?" Naruto asked; just to lure him out of his shell.

"Yes," Kenji said curtly, almost mumbling.

"You're not on good terms?" Naruto asked.

"She's alright I guess."

"You're jealous?" Eri asked, who couldn't let this moment of vulnerability from Kenji pass by.

"Of course not, why would I be jealous with her? She's stupid." Kenji heaved up his nose and crossed his arms.

Naruto sniggered and Eri and Ryomaru looked at him.

"She is," Kenji said.

"She's not," Ryomaru interjected softly.

"Is there anyone in your family you actually like? Even just a little?" Eri asked.

"Of course, my dad's cool and uncle Fuu has okay jutsus."

"I must say I had not expected that," Eri admitted.

"Why do you care anyway?"

"Just curious."

"Naruto-sensei?" Ryomaru asked as his teammates started another squabble.

"Hm?" Naruto looked down to him.

"You really think they have the best teamwork?"

"I do, they have way better teamwork than team Kakashi."

"Oh," Ryomaru said pensively. "What are they like?" he then asked.

"Hmm, I'm not going to tell too much about their fighting techniques, because they will do that tomorrow, but er…" Naruto laid his hand on his chin, thinking about what to say. Kenji and Eri had put their squabble to a rest to listen in as well. "Even if their jutsus hadn't been so complimentary to each other, they would still be great. They trust each other completely and supplement each other's strengths and weaknesses. They know each other inside and out."

"And team Kakashi doesn't?" Ryomaru asked softly.

"Not as well as they do. You will see what I mean when you see them fight together."

"Oooh, I can't wait for tomorrow," Eri said.

-x-

Naruto had fallen asleep on the couch and Akira was fumbling with his empty sleeve as Sasuke came into the room with a big bowl of rice.

"Let him be, Akira."

Akira turned around and let the sleeve go, which now contained a knot.

Sasuke didn't say anything; he just placed the bowl on the table that was laid for three people and sat down on the floor. Akira came to join him.

"Tou-chan?"

"Hn?"

"Do you want to- to," Akira glanced at Sasuke as he fumbled with his chopsticks, "to teach me to be a ninja?"

Sasuke looked down at the small boy and smiled. "Yes, we'll try throwing some shuriken later."

"Yeah!" Akira said rather loud.

Naruto sat up straight immediately, looking around sleepily.

"Just in time for dinner," Sasuke said as he showed Naruto the food on the table by moving aside.

"That looks nice." Naruto slipped off the couch and then noticed the knot in his sleeve as it bumped into his side. He frowned at it and then looked over to Akira, who was innocently drumming his fingers softly on the table, staring at the food.

"Hm." Naruto shoved closer to Sasuke's left. "Why?" he simply asked.

"I don't know," Sasuke said truthfully and he took Akira's bowl to fill it with rice and vegetables.

"Hm," Naruto said once more. He wasn't fully awake yet as he looked through half closed eyes.

Sasuke put Akira's filled bowl down as the boy almost couldn't wait to start eating, chopsticks at the ready. Next Sasuke filled up Naruto's bowl.

Naruto slowly followed his moves as he put the food in it and finally placed it in front of him. After Sasuke had finished filling his own bowl a murmur and one loud 'itadakimasu' was heard and Akira almost attacked his food.

Naruto slowly picked up a piece of beef Sasuke had purposely placed on top of his rice and began eating. It was rather silent at the table as no one spoke.

Eventually Naruto had sobered up a bit or at least enough to think it was too silent.

"When do you have your next mission?"

Sasuke didn't answer immediately as he quietly finished the food in his mouth. He didn't even bother to turn to Naruto as he answered.

"Tomorrow and the day after that I need to train with Kakashi, Sakura and Sai, because we have a mission the next day."

"Right." Naruto finished his bowl and waited to get seconds, just like Akira did. He would have gotten it himself, but he just didn't feel like doing it.

"I'm going to train too," Akira suddenly said happily.

"Are you?" Naruto asked.

"Tou-chan is going to teach me throwing shuriken later!" He was so enthusiastic he almost knocked over his refilled bowl.

"_To_ _throw_ shuriken," Sasuke corrected him and steadied the bowl.

Naruto grinned. "That's great." He turned to Sasuke. "In the back garden?"

Sasuke nodded and gave Naruto his refill.

"Then I can watch."

Akira smiled.

-x-

Naruto sat on the porch, leaning with his shoulder against a wooden beam as he watched Sasuke and Akira. Sasuke was hunching behind Akira, and held his small hand with a practice shuuriken in his own large hand. He was making Akira's arm move in the movement it should make when throwing.

Akira was obviously having trouble standing still out of excitement, but he was also focussed on what Sasuke was telling him to do.

Then Sasuke let Akira go, stood up, showed the movement one more time and took a step back, to give Akira some space. Akira made the movement without throwing the pointy object a few times, before stopping. He looked up to Sasuke and waited for a nod or something, but Sasuke was already watching the target.

A tad disappointed Akira turned to the target and concentrated on it. The target was a big round piece of wood Sasuke had attached to a tree in the garden.

He put his tongue out in concentration and then threw the shuuriken away. It missed the target by quite a bit and Akira was a bit upset.

"Good first throw," Sasuke told him.

"Really? But I missed."

Sasuke turned to Akira. "Don't expect to hit it anytime soon, you're just starting." Then he saw Akira's face fall as he had apparently not expected that. "Er…" He wasn't going to cry, was he? Sasuke couldn't handle him crying. He tried to think up something to comfort him, while not telling a lie. But he couldn't come up with anything and Akira's lower lip began to shiver. "Don't cry," was all he managed to say, which didn't make things better at all.

"That was way better than I did the first time," Naruto said, trying to help Sasuke a bit. Akira looked over to Naruto. "It took me months before I could finally hit the target."

This seemed to comfort Akira a little.

"I bet you can do better than him." Sasuke looked down smirking.

Akira smiled. "You think so?"

"Of course you can, you're my son."

That was all Akira needed to hear and he turned back to the target again and began throwing the pointy objects.

Sasuke was relieved; somehow Naruto always knew something to say when Sasuke couldn't think of anything. Sasuke envied Naruto for it. He could talk to kids so easily; like he could with his team. Sasuke didn't think he could ever do that.

Sasuke couldn't see that he was actually already getting quite comfortable around his son.

It was a few hours later and the sun was beginning to lower faster, when Akira actually hit the target, though the shuuriken bounced right off from the wood.

"You saw that?" Sasuke nodded. "Why didn't it stuck like yours do?"

"You didn't throw it hard enough. You need to get a feeling to know how hard you have to throw, but that will come with practice."

Akira turned back to the tree, put his tongue out again and actually threw the next shuuriken into the pond, six metres to the target's right.

"Oops," Akira grinned and then suddenly looked shocked. "Oh no," he said as he ran to the pond. Sasuke had no idea what was wrong. "I didn't kill the koi fish, did I?"

Sasuke actually sniggered and so did Naruto. Like Akira could actually kill something already, especially with the practice shuuriken, which were not as dangerous as real ones.

"Fishy?" Akira said as he leant over the pond. "I'm sorry!"

Sasuke quickly walked up to him and pulled him back before he would fall in (which had already happened quite a lot and Sasuke was never amused by it. Akira had cried every time as Sasuke had given him a stern look and even a speech about looking at the fish in the pond).

"The fish are fine, you cannot possibly kill them with the practice shuuriken."

"Ow," Akira said as Sasuke put him down on his feet.

"What about the shuuriken?" he asked, looking back to the pond as Sasuke took him back to his throwing spot.

"Naruto or I will get it out tomorrow."

"But what if the fish-?"

"Nothing will happen to the fish!" Sasuke said with a slightly raised voice.

Akira started throwing the shuuriken again, looking over to the pond every now and then and purposely not trying to throw in that direction; making almost all his shuuriken land on the left side of the tree. It looked like he had a deviation.

Sasuke walked over to Naruto and sat down next to him.

"You really enjoy doing this, don't you?" Naruto asked as he looked at Sasuke sitting down.

Sasuke watched Akira and then Naruto. "He wants to be a ninja, what else can I say?"

Naruto was just in time to see how Akira missed the target by a centimetre.

"Perhaps also because it reminds me of Itachi helping me when I was little."

Naruto turned to Sasuke again while Sasuke kept his eyes on his son. Naruto thought this over for a minute.

"Must have been nice then," he smiled and looked at the garden, somewhere between Akira and the target. Sasuke saw how the smile wasn't quite reflected in his eyes.

Naruto had never had someone to practice anything with him. He'd always been alone, no one correcting him or giving him advice.

"Good one, Akira-kun, you almost hit the board." Akira's answer was a smile, so Naruto smiled back.

The sun was really low now, almost blinding them by shining in their eyes.

"Let's call it a day." Naruto stood up and stretched. "I'm going to bed, I'm tired."

"But…" Akira looked over to the pond again and Sasuke actually had to drag him away from it. "But the fishy~!"

Sasuke had Akira in his arms and took him upstairs. "He'll be fine, he's smarter than he looks," Sasuke said as he sighed, sounding a bit irritated.

Naruto sniggered.

-oXo-

A/N: For those few Dutch people reading this; a slow-worm is a 'hazelworm' and a cornflower= korenbloem (duh ;P) and an aquilegia= akelei ^^ I really like those two flowers.

Please review? :)


	15. Chapter 15: Realization

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sensei.

This chapter has been beta-ed by MS3923 :)

Thank you all for your reviews last chapter :D

-oXo-

**Chapter 15: Realization**

_29__th__ of July_

Naruto stood in the kitchen, frying an egg. Or at least he was trying to, but he hadn't even been able to break the egg up properly. Some eggshell pieces had fallen on his egg in the pan. Quickly he took it off the fire, to try and get the pieces out that he did not wish to eat.

Arms folded around his waist as he almost got one piece out, but because of the movement it slid down back into the slimy substance.

"Sasuke, I almost had it," he pouted.

Sasuke looked over the blond's shoulder into the pan. "Why didn't you ask me to do it?"

"I wanted to make you breakfast before you would leave for your mission."

"Hm," Sasuke murmured as he kissed Naruto. His hands reached for the pan, and he gripped the handle.

"You're not going to throw that away, are you?"

"No, I'll help; just pretend you have three arms."

"Hmm," Naruto pursed his lips and had a slight frown on his face, but proceeded with his attempts of getting the eggshell out of the pan nonetheless.

As Naruto had finally managed to get one piece out, Sasuke had taken out the other three. Together they fried the egg, and when it was almost done Naruto pushed Sasuke away and told him to sit down.

Not soon after Naruto finished the egg, Akira came walking into the kitchen and sniffed the air. "Smells yummy."

"When do you think you get home?" Naruto asked as they sat eating at the kitchen table.

"Probably around 16:00. I just have to deliver some scroll, not far from here."

"Okay."

-x-

Akira was walking a bit in front of Naruto, as they were heading to training ground 4. It was already afternoon, and Naruto had decided he wanted to take a look how his team was doing, just for a moment.

When they walked up the field, Chouji was just telling them how they could try to adjust their skills to each other. Naruto stopped next to the wooden post, and leaned against it. Akira copied him, leaning against the other side as he looked up to Naruto and then to team 9, like Naruto did.

Shikamaru gave Naruto a small nod when he saw him, but didn't do much else. After a while Chouji was done telling what he'd wanted to say, and decided to point out their sensei, as they hadn't noticed yet.

"Naruto-sensei!" Eri said as she came to him. Suddenly Eri slowed down, and looked at the small boy leaning against the other side of the wooden pole. Ryomaru and Kenji walked up beside her.

"Who is that?" Kenji asked with suspicion in his eyes. The boy looked an awful lot like…

Naruto smiled and looked down to Akira, who was ever polite, and wanted to introduce himself before Naruto would.

"My name is Uchiha Akira," he said as he stood turning and twisting, looking down shyly. He wasn't completely used to his new family name, but nonetheless there was a very wide smile on his face. Naruto could hear Ino squeal in the distance, 'so cu~te!'.

"You mean-" Kenji said as he stared at Akira with almost an open mouth.

"Akira-kun is Sasuke's son," Naruto confirmed. Somehow his team had never seen Akira before. Every time they had come over to 'Naruto's place', Akira had been either playing at a friend's place, been upstairs or with Sasuke.

"I didn't know he had a son?" Eri said as she stepped up to Akira and gave him a hand. "Nice to meet you Akira-kun, my name is Buki Eri."

"Hello," Akira said and looked up to her, smiling.

Ryomaru gave Akira a hand, and finally Kenji did as well.

Akira noticed Ryomaru's small medical bag, and began asking him questions about it, as he had seen a similar pouch with Sakura.

"Why is he with you?" Eri asked, and Kenji stepped a little closer to be able to hear the answer as well.

"Sasuke's on a mission, so I watch over him," Naruto said matter-of-factly.

"Aha," Eri said. "That's kind of you." Naruto didn't see what was so kind about it; it was only natural, right?

"So, how's training going?"

"Fine," Kenji said, crossing his arms.

"Great!" Eri said cheerfully. "I really like their jutsus."

Naruto smiled and team Ino-Shika-Chou came closer.

"Kenji-kun, still sulking?" Ino asked Kenji as she ruffled his light orange hair. He was not amused and batted her hand away.

Shikamaru sighed. "Ino, let that boy be."

"Ah, can't I have fun with my nephew of my father's sister her son's-"

"Yeah, yeah, he's a relative, we get it," Shikamaru said.

"Far, very far and distant," Kenji grumbled.

"Come on, Kenji. She can't be that bad? Right? I mean I know she can be nosy an-" This earned Naruto a slap on the back of his head. "Ino!"

"I'm not nosy."

Silence, as Shikamaru, Chouji, Naruto and Kenji knew she was.

"Let's get back to training."

"Yeah!"

Shikamaru looked up lazily. "For now we would like to divide you over the three of us, so we can see what you can do, and help you with how you can use your jutsus and techniques to your teammates' advantage."

Eri seemed unable to contain herself as she started wiggling. "Oh, I want to train with Chouji-sensei!" she burst out. Her two teammates stared at her.

"That's all right," Chouji said as he started guiding her to some spot on the training ground.

"Ha, I got the best!"

Kenji grumbled at her actions, and then he saw who were left for him... well her... Ryomaru started fiddling.

"You come with me?" Shikamaru asked Ryomaru.

He instantly became red and nodded. "Yes, sensei."

"That leaves the two of us," Ino grinned.

Kenji grumbled darkly.

"Do your best Kenji, or I have a feeling you'll be stuck doing the most boring D-rank missions for the next month."

At first Kenji thought Naruto was threatening -or trying to blackmail- him, but then he saw his sensei looking at Ino, and he understood; it was for his own good – a warning.

"It won't be that bad," Ino said, and Kenji turned his attention back to her. "I think I'll even teach you a new clan jutsu." Well that did it for sure. Kenji was next to her before she knew it and stared at her, waiting for her to say what he should do.

Akira was back to Naruto's side, and watched team 9 like Naruto did.

Chouji and Eri started to spar. Once in a while Chouji stopped her and gave her instructions as to how she could use some moves in combination with her teammates.

Shikamaru, on the other side, probably thought it to bothersome to fight and was just talking with Ryomaru, as if he was giving him a test. Or so Ryomaru made it appear as he started fiddling and stutter. Naruto could hear it all, and Shikamaru wasn't testing him at all.

Ino and Kenji had started a small battle of body possession. Ino won, except for one time. The last time she stayed in Kenji's body a bit longer than necessary, and made Kenji's body ask Eri out on a date.

When Ino returned to her own body, Kenji became mad and red as he tried to get into a hand fight. Eri was standing blushing too, while trying to ignore this all and continue her fight. She had noticed by now what had been going on and that it hadn't been Kenji to ask her out.

"What are they doing?" Akira asked as he was watching Ino and Kenji fight.

"Ah, Ino and Kenji are both from the Yamanaka clan. That clan uses secret techniques that have to do with the mind and the body."

"So what did they do then?"

Naruto tried to explain to Akira in simple words what had happened, and in the end Akira nodded, though Naruto wasn't sure if he had really understood, or was just distracted by a rabbit somewhere further on in the field.

"Bunny rabbit!"

"I think it's actually a hare."

"Hair?"

"No, a hare; a rabbit with long ears and legs."

"Really?" And so Naruto ended up telling Akira the difference between the two almost similar animals, instead of explaining what his team was doing.

When he finished this explanation, he decided it was better to go home.

"I'll come back later in the afternoon," he said as he waved, and directed Akira away from the hare.

-x-

Sasuke had returned home from his mission, and woke Naruto up as he had fallen asleep under a tree in the garden. Immediately Naruto had gone to the training field, hoping his team was still there. And they were.

Kenji and Ryomaru where standing next to each other, while Eri stood more to the front; all facing their temporary senseis.

"You understand the idea behind that strategy?" Shikamaru asked.

"Hai, Shikamaru-sensei."

Naruto's eyebrows rose; what was that? Only Ryomaru ever said that, but now they said it in unison. Had Sakura something to do with that?

Then Ryomaru noticed Naruto and waved to him. Naruto waved back, and Eri and Kenji noticed him as well.

"Naruto-sensei!"

"Can we show him?" Kenji asked.

Ino and Chouji nodded.

Chouji began attacking Team 9. Kenji surprisingly stayed at the back, while Ryomaru seemed to stand in front of him, as if protecting him. Eri attacked Chouji with taijutsu.

Naruto stood amazed, watching his team do something he had told them to do before, but they had never listened to him. He had said before that Kenji should keep to the back if he would like to use his family jutsu. Like with Ino, she would stay more to the back, while Chouji attacked, and Shikamaru could protect her body.

This was the same formation. Ryomaru protected Kenji, and as medical ninja it was better for him to stay a bit more to the back, since he had lesser jutsus to use.

Kenji could also use a bunshin to attack and was good at throwing projectiles, Ryomaru was too.

Eri was good for close combat and was an attacker.

Naruto had told them before, but Kenji had huffed and always had come forward in their line-up, not wishing to stand at the back where no one could see him fight. Ryomaru instead liked to take that position for him, and thus the bickering between Eri and Kenji began as they got in each other's way.

This was one of the reasons Naruto had asked Ino-Shika-Cho for their help. He'd hoped his team would listen to someone else, especially when they showed they did the same.

Kenji was able to take control of Chouji's body and their temporary sensei surrendered.

Naruto grinned. He was proud that they had done it, but at the same time his heart hurt at the thought he wouldn't join them soon… if ever.

* * *

><p>The next day Naruto and Akira were walking towards the training field, because Akira had wanted to see his father train, and Naruto didn't really mind going there (and seeing him train) either. Sasuke looked good when he was training.<p>

They were walking over the market, and Akira was quite distracted by everything all around him.

"Stay with me, all right?" Naruto said, afraid of losing him in the crowd. Sasuke would surely kill him if something happened to Akira. Although Sasuke didn't always let it show, he really had become quite fond of the boy.

Suddenly Akira grabbed Naruto's empty sleeve, and pulled it a few times. "Can we go over there? Can we?"

Naruto frowned a bit at the sudden pulls on his still sensitive shoulder, and saw he pointed to a flower stand. Naruto grinned. "Okay."

As they came closer to the flowers Akira had almost let go of Naruto's sleeve out of excitement to point to every flower he could name.

"That's a daffodil, and that a jasmine, and that a rose and-"

"Hey Naruto, the kid sure knows his flowers." A blond woman called to him from the stand.

"Doesn't he?" Naruto answered the purple ninja.

"And that's a daisy, and that-"

"Did your okaa-san teach you all those names?" Ino asked Akira.

Akira nodded. "She really liked flowers a lot. Especially that one." He pointed to a lavender coloured flower.

"Because of its scent?"

"Yes."

Ino picked one of the purple flowers, and gave it to Akira.

"Don't tell this to anyone, but you can have this one for free. Bring it to your okaa-san's grave."

Akira nodded and carefully took the flower. "Thank you Ino-san."

Ino smiled, as did Naruto. Akira gripped Naruto's sleeve once more, and blushed as he shyly said goodbye to Ino, thanking her once more.

Finally they reached the training ground, after Naruto had to remind Akira of their original reason to go outside, and that they could get to the market the next week as well.

Naruto came to a halt not far from the three wooden posts.

"Tou-chan!" Akira yelled, as he saw his father fight Sai and Sakura off with Kakashi.

Sasuke halted and blocked a kick from Sai. Noticing the tiny person that had called him and a certain blond standing next to him, he walked slowly towards them as the rest stopped mid-action too.

Akira stood jumping up and down as the foursome neared, waving Naruto's sleeve up and down with him as he still held onto it. Naruto glanced at him and he stopped, grinning back at Naruto.

"What a nice surprise." Sakura walked up to Akira, and kneeled next to him. "What a beautiful flower you have there."

Akira nodded fiercely. "This lilac is for kaa-chan. Ino-san gave it to me."

"That's very nice of her."

"It's kaa-chan's favourite, because it smells nice." He pushed the flower forward almost into Sakura's face. "Smell." Sakura took the flower and smelled it.

"What's that big crater doing over there?" Naruto asked as he looked to his right.

"Sasuke went a bit overboard with his Susano'o," Kakashi told him, shaking his head. Sasuke stared blankly at the crater, like it was only normal.

"Right," Naruto said slowly.

As Sasuke, Sai, Kakashi and Naruto stood staring at said crater, Akira suddenly gave a hard pull at Naruto's sleeve. It almost made Naruto topple over, with the force Akira had pulled. Besides, he hadn't expected it, and hadn't been standing very steadily. Akira pulled him to a nearby tree, as he kept saying, "Look there. Look there," while pointing. It almost seemed like he was pulling a leash.

Sakura looked up to Akira, stared at the empty place in front of her, blinked and then realized the person had moved. She grinned when she saw Naruto's surprised face, at being pulled away almost rudely.

"Akira-kun?" he said, and they finally stopped.

"Look, look, birdie." Akira pointed up into a tree.

Naruto sighed; _was that the reason he had been pulled here?_ _Because of a bird?_ Naruto grumbled softly, and looked up into the tree as well. When he finally noticed the bird between the green leaves, his ears dropped.

He wanted to reach for Akira, but his arm didn't do anything; or more precisely, it _couldn't_ do anything. He realized he didn't have an arm to seize anything with, and instead used his other arm. He pulled Akira back by his collar, and threw him away, then spun further to finish his rotation.

Sasuke immediately jumped to catch his son, Sakura and Kakashi went for Naruto. Naruto's hand waved behind him as he finished his turn, an orange ball forming in it. Sometimes it seemed like the chakra had difficulty to be formed, as small sparks seemed to fly around his hand.

Finally Naruto brought his hand up at the moment a ninja jumped out of the tree towards him. He hit the ninja in his left shoulder, and with the force of the Rasengan blowing apart when it hit the ninja, he was thrown back. Sakura caught him. Kakashi went after the ninja.

Sasuke came walking to Naruto with Akira resting on his hip and rubbing his back. He had tears in his eyes, but he wasn't crying. He had just been startled.

"It's alright," he told Akira as he hiccupped and gripped Sasuke's shirt.

Sakura lowered Naruto to the ground, and noticed he was unconscious. Since he had been in the hospital, his chakra had been running overtime to get him fixed. His chakra was still very low, for him. She saw Kakashi tie the ninja up, and then noticed Naruto's hand.

"How did he do that?" she asked as she picked up Naruto's hand, while he rested on her other arm. The palm of his hand was red but the middle, where the nail had been hammered through not that long ago, was white; it looked like a scar. It looked just like when you wash with warm water, your skin will turn red, but a scar will not change with it and stays white; though there was no real scar visible on Naruto's hand.

She brought her finger to it and touched the white spot.

"Itai."

She looked down to the origin of the sound. Naruto had his eyes open, and was trying to sit up; his hand was shaking a bit. Kakashi came to stand next to them.

"Don't really know where that ninja comes from, he has no hitai-ate, but soon someone will pick him up, as I send a message."

He looked down to Naruto as well, seeing that the blond was holding his hand against his chest. Naruto didn't really know what else to do with his hand, it hurt, but he couldn't hold it with his other hand. It scared him. He knew that he didn't have his left arm anymore, and knew it would take some time to get used to it, but he _knew_ it wasn't there.

When he saw the ninja in the tree, he had automatically wanted to grab something with it. This was the first time he actually realized he had lost his arm.

It had almost taken him too much time to grasp Akira with an arm he no longer had, that he had wasted it. Why hadn't he heard the ninja in the tree?

Sakura brought him back out of his thoughts as she tried to take his hand to check it, but he pulled it away from her.

"Let me see it," she said sternly, and he finally moved it away from his chest over to her, looking away.

"How did you do it?"

"I don't know; I just did."

"It should be impossible. Did it hurt while you made the Rasengan?"

"It felt like the nail was back in there," he said, still looking away sadly.

"And now?"

"It's stinging."

"Last time you couldn't make a single handed Rasengan yet," Sakura stated.

"True; I practised after that. Sasuke helped." Naruto pulled back his hand from Sakura's now loose grip and stood up. "Sorry that I threw you away, Akira-kun." He said to the small boy in Sasuke's arms.

Akira looked at him, trying to dry his damp eyes.

"You are quite a brave boy, Akira-kun. You'll be a fine ninja," Kakashi added. Immediately a smile appeared on Akira's face and his chest puffed up a little. He was brave, just like his dad, and he would show them.

An ANBU arrived and inspected the unconscious man, Pakkun stood next to him.

"Kakashi-san, please explain?" the ANBU with a rat mask asked.

"Ah, Nezumi-san." Kakashi walked up to the masked man. "He was hiding in this tree. Naruto knocked him out with a Rasengan." He pointed to the shoulder of the tied up ninja, who was completely covered in clothes, only his eyes were visible.

"I don't understand why I didn't hear him?" Naruto asked, while he tried to wave the tingling sensation from his hand.

"A barrier?" Sakura proposed.

"Possible," Kakashi said. He watched how the ANBU began inspecting the ninja to find any traces of such a barrier and something else Kakashi might have missed.

"Did you hear the bird?" Sasuke asked.

"No." Naruto looked up to Sasuke.

So it could have been a barrier.

Sasuke turned his head to Akira. "Good eyes," he told him, and Akira gripped his shirt tighter while he grinned to Sasuke.

The ANBU finally heaved the ninja over his shoulder and disappeared.

"Was he after you?" Sasuke eventually asked, looking down to Naruto. "Was it one of those stone ninja that took you?"

Naruto shrugged. "Don't know, he didn't make a sound, nor was his face visible."

Sakura nodded. She turned the lilac she was still holding in her hands. It was completely unharmed. She walked to Akira and gave him the flower back. "Better go bring this to your mother's grave," she smiled kindly.

Akira nodded and began moving, as he wanted to be put down. Sasuke did so and Akira ran to Naruto, grasping his empty sleeve again. "Let's go, let's go. I want to give kaa-chan the flower."

"Sure." Naruto looked over to Sakura, who gave him a stern look, but was unable to tell him not to go, to instead visit Tsunade, as she herself had told Akira to go to the grave. Naruto grinned back, and followed Akira off the training field.

When Sasuke was sure that Naruto was out of ear range, he suddenly spoke, still staring at the two dots labelled Naruto and Akira. "Could it be that the fox is healing his hand?"

Sakura looked up to him.

"Because the seal is still showing," Sasuke told her.

"Really? That's odd, isn't it? His ribs have already been healed," Sakura asked, turning her body to Sasuke now. She briefly looked over to Kakashi, before looking back to Sasuke. He looked down to her. "It was really… -amazing isn't the right word, but-…" Sakura held up her hand as if it was Naruto's and pointed to it with her other. "When he was in the hospital, the chakra nodes in his hand had been completely destroyed. Even if he had tried to put chakra in it, he wouldn't have been able to do so."

She looked shortly at the spot where Naruto and Akira had disappeared. "Right now it looked like there was scar tissue on the chakra nodes. Still not-repairable, but with a lot of force or willpower he could be able to get some chakra through, though it would normally ruin your chakra nodes for good. As we saw, he made a Rasengan; that's something that he should not have been able of doing with so few chakra nodes that can let chakra through. And those with scar tissue were badly damaged, but not destroyed."

"Did you see the sparks?" Sasuke asked as he looked from Sakura to Kakashi. They both nodded.

"When I saw him make the same hand-movement that he made when we practised the one handed Rasengan, I took a closer look."

"Sharingan. What did you see?"

"He put so much chakra in his hand that -like what you said about there being too few chakra openings- it was forced out too much and sparked. The Rasengan was unstable, and when he came close to the ninja's body it exploded, though it might have looked like he hit him."

Sakura nodded. Silence fell for a moment.

"Is it possible for him, even with the Kyuubi's healing chakra, to heal from something like that?" Sasuke finally asked.

"I have never seen or heard about something like that," Kakashi responded.

"It is theoretically impossible," Sakura added.

"Just like everything else about Naruto," Kakashi said, looking at Sasuke.

"Hm."

"He still is the most surprising ninja," Kakashi added.

-x -

Naruto stood behind Akira, as he placed the lilac on his mother's grave and told her all sorts of things he'd seen and done the last few weeks.

Naruto was thinking about the ninja. Normally he didn't bother about these things since it was in the ANBU's hands now. But still, there was this feeling in his gut. He couldn't really say what it was. Fear? Was he afraid that the ninja might be one of those stone ninja's from this so-called Treasure Hunter? Deep down something was; not because he was afraid of the man or his ninja's, but because of what he had become, almost became, could have become back then. Perhaps losing an arm had something to do with it as well.

Was it happiness, because he _could_ use chakra after all? Although it hadn't been painless, his hand was still stinging. Did this mean he would be able to use his chakra normally again one day? Could this perhaps mean..? No, that was even too much for him. No.

There was another feeling. No, not a feeling or even an emotion; it was more like something else, like he _knew_; except he didn't. Naruto shook his head. This was too complicated, he should not think about such things for too long.

He looked down to Akira just as he was about to finished with his story. Luckily Akira seemed to be fine. In such a short period the boy had began to grow on him. Akira was so much more open now, in a different way than he was before. He had been an easy talker from the start.

Naruto could see that this had to do with his bond to Sasuke. Sasuke had finally accepted his role as a father, and with that he'd become one. His heart had changed so he could _be_ a father. Sure he still had a lot to learn, but he'd opened himself to the meaning of being a father. Or at least had made one himself.

Akira finished saying his goodbye and took Naruto's sleeve again, waiting for him to take him back home.

-x-

When they were back home, Naruto couldn't stop thinking about what had happened. Akira was playing in the garden, and Naruto just stood there in the living room staring at the wall.

It was so weird. He knew he'd lost his arm, and hadn't been happy about it at all, but he thought he had somehow accepted it. He had been proven wrong today. Until now he'd thought everything had been more or less fine. He just needed to get used to do things with one hand, and he knew that could take a while.

He looked down to the table before walking upstairs, not really knowing why; his legs just took him there.

He'd known that learning to do things with one hand in daily life would take a while, and he knew that if he still wanted to be a ninja with one arm, it would take even longer. And he knew he wouldn't be able to make hand signs anymore. He had not fully accepted that, but he was sure he would come to accept that over time, when he would find that he didn't even do hand signs that often, or something like that. He'd get over it.

He sat down on the bed.

But now... He wasn't so sure anymore that this was true. Using chakra had hurt a lot, but that wasn't what really bothered him. It was the fact that he'd wanted to use his arm just a few hours ago. He _knew_ he couldn't, he _knew_ that there was no arm on that side, no more. He _knew_... and he had still tried to use it. And what if that had screwed things up? Akira could have died.

He grabbed his hair. The more he thought about it, the more trouble he had breathing.

Was he finally beginning to realize what this meant to him, what that last month, this abduction had done to him? Not just being starved and tortured. Not just what the fox had done or had made of him. Not even that he'd lost an arm. It was the fact that he could no longer become the ninja he wanted to be. His dream, his life long dream was slowly falling apart. How could he protect people? How could he protect an entire village if he could barely save a single small boy's life?

He noticed he wasn't taking in any air anymore. He slowly slid off the bed, and fell to his knees.

His entire life... he had had that dream for as long as he could remember; had been working on this dream for as long as he could remember. Gone, gone in an instant. His life was gone. His purpose...

Everything he'd learned over the years had not been of any use to him in that small room hanging against that wall. No jutsu, no knowledge, no taijutsu could have helped him escape. Had he been weak? Was he weak?

Suddenly cool, comforting hands gently wrapped around his shoulders and pressed him closer to a chest.

"Just breathe, Naruto. Just breathe, slowly," the smooth, calm voice said; a voice that meant safety and was stronger than him. A voice that told him he would always be there for him.

He breathed. Fresh air entered his lungs and tears streamed down his face. He couldn't stop them.

"S-sasuke," he cried as he gripped him and held him close.

"I'm here, don't worry." Sasuke let his hand slowly travel through Naruto's hair, and finally when his hand came to his back began tracing small circles. Naruto cried into his chest and shoulder; for an hour they just sat there. Not saying anything until the tears stopped.

Naruto was breathing rather calmly again, but didn't leave the safety and protected feeling of Sasuke's chest just yet. Finally Sasuke decided to speak.

"It's about what happened today, isn't it."

Naruto nodded.

"And last month."

Naruto nodded again, and silence fell once more.

"What do I do now?"

Sasuke looked down to Naruto. He'd sounded so... overcome and defeated. Sasuke pushed him back so he could look into those teary eyes. Naruto stared back, although somewhat hazily as he sniffed.

"Naruto, look at me," Naruto was of course already looking to him, but not at him. The haziness disappeared some after Naruto blinked. "You don't have to throw everything away. You still got a team that wants you to be their sensei. You can still be a ninja. You could still be Hokage; if you look at all what Tsunade-sama does is signing papers."

A small smile appeared on Naruto's face. Sasuke wasn't sure where this all came from; he'd been just as worried about this as Naruto. But when he said it, he knew he meant it. "You still have friends that care for you. You have a family... a son that loves you. You got me."

Naruto gasped. "You- you mean that?"

"I do. Akira is as much my son as he is yours. You're his father too, his nicer dad, though," he said softly.

"Then what are you? His grumpy dad?" Naruto blinked away some leftover tears.

"No his strict father that pays for everything."

Naruto smiled and hugged him. "I think you are his real father, that loves him and he looks up to."

Sasuke grinned. "I would like that."

"You are. Thank you Sasuke."

-oXo-


	16. Chapter 16: Training

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sensei.

This chapter has been beta-ed by MS3923 :D

Thank you reviewers, you are the best :3

-oXo-

**Chapter 16: Training**

_6__th__ of August_

Naruto slowly crawled over to Sasuke's side of the bed, not opening his eyes and slowly lay on top of Sasuke. Sasuke groaned a bit as he felt Naruto moving.

"What about Akira?" he asked, his voice filled with sleep.

"Is already watching television," came the equally sleep-filled voice of the other.

"Has he already eaten, otherwise..." his voice died down.

"Don't know-" Naruto hugged his favourite 'pillow'. His ears turned the other way around. "He's eating now."

"Hn." Sasuke hugged Naruto back, Naruto already back to sleep. Sasuke smelled his hair and drifted off as well.

Downstairs Akira was happily eating his yoghurt with 'crunchy things inside', while watching some cartoons. He had been awake rather early, but he didn't mind. The sun was shining inside, and he could hear the birds sing. He looked into the garden through the window at the tree that was filled with sparrows, a robin and a blackbird.

He sat there for almost two hours, counting and identifying birds while eating, when suddenly the doorbell rang. He looked up to the ceiling, but didn't hear any sounds from his father's and Naruto's bedroom. So he stood up and walked to the door. He peeked through the side window and smiled.

"Hello Akira-kun," Eri smiled at him. Ryomaru waved from beside her, and Kenji gave a small nod.

"Ohayo, come in." Akira opened the door further, and let Naruto's genin team enter their house.

"We were wondering how things were with sensei." Eri looked down to Akira. "With Naruto-sensei," she added to clarify herself, wondering why Akira was here in her sensei's home. Was Naruto looking after him because Sasuke was on a mission?

"They are upstairs," Akira smiled. "Come." And he ran up the stairs. Kenji and Eri exchanged looks before following the small version of Sasuke upstairs. _They?_

At the end of the stairs they took a left and were standing in Sasuke's and Naruto bedroom. Akira smiled at them, and pointed to the bed. Naruto was still lying on top of Sasuke, making soft noises that sounded somewhere between a purr and a snore every time Sasuke's chest rose.

Mouths fell open. "A-are they-?" Eri started, blushing. Kenji just stared wide-eyed, and Ryomaru had turned red, trying to look away.

"They always sleep together," Akira said. "Tou-chan says Naruto is nice and warm in bed." He turned to Eri and whispered. "That's because he used to be a fox, did you know that?"

Sasuke began to stir, as he felt the presence of some people in his near environment other than Naruto.

Eri inhaled, making a squeaking sound, and they all took a step backward as Sasuke stared at them, leaning on his elbows. Naruto was still clinging to him with his one arm, and slowly opened his eyes too, as Sasuke took this strange position. When he noticed people in the room, he squeaked, and fell out of the bed when he jolted.

"Naruto, they are here for you," Akira said stating the obvious as he was bending over to Naruto.

"Out," was all Sasuke said with a calm, even and slightly raised voice. They didn't need telling twice, and the genins scattered out of the room to the living room down stairs, staring nervously at each other.

Akira looked up innocently from Naruto to his father.

"Akira?"

"Yes?" he said with a small smile on his face.

"When there are visitors, you wake us up first. Let them wait downstairs next time."

"Oh, okay." Akira didn't quite understand what was wrong with this.

Naruto stood up whilst straightening his orange t-shirt with black sleeves, and quickly pulled on some pants, to go downstairs and calm down his team. Sasuke instead went to the shower, grumbling all the way.

"Come on," Naruto told Akira, as he tried to close the button on the back of his pants to close the hole his tail went through, and walked to the door.

Arriving downstairs, Naruto pointed to Akira's half full bowl of yoghurt, and told him to eat it in the kitchen. He didn't want Akira in the room when he was going to talk to his team about what they had just seen. He sat down at the table where his team was staring holes in the tabletop.

"Sorry about all that." Naruto scratched the back of his head, a slight blush on his face and his ears halfway up.

"We-we thought you had a girlfriend," Eri blurted out.

Kenji gave her a quick glance before lifting his head up, not wanting to stare at the table like the others did. "Sakura-sensei," he clarified, sounding a bit uncomfortable.

"Ah, did you now?" Naruto had no idea what to say. "Er, I guess you know now that I don't." He laughed uncomfortably. His tail lay motionless on the floor.

Eri stared at him. "Why didn't you just tell us?"

"Eh?"

"That you and S-Sasuke-sama…" Eri's voice died down.

"-are together." Kenji finished Eri's sentence, crossing his arms over his soft yellow t-shirt, not wearing his usual overcoat. A small pink blush crept up his face.

Naruto shrugged. "Should I have done that then?"

Two pairs of eyes, green and yellow, stared at him intensely. Ryomaru was looking how his own fingers traced circles on the table.

"I guess I should have then." Naruto grinned. "Didn't know that this was so important to you."

"It is to you, right?"

"Er? Yes?" Naruto was a little taken aback by Eri's loud voice.

"Then it is to us as well."

Naruto's eyebrows rose a little further at that statement, and then he smiled. "So what did you come for, originally? Want to get training already?"

"Yes," Kenji said immediately, Eri elbowed him.

"No, we just came to visit you; look how things were going." Eri smiled, ignoring Kenji, who was glaring at her with narrowed eyes, rubbing his side.

"Well, I'm quite alright, just very bored. I would like to go to the training field with you later."

"You will teach us something new?" Kenji asked.

"Sure, I got just the thing," Naruto grinned.

"Yes!"

"Kenji!" Eri slapped him on the back of his head. "What if he isn't fit enough yet?"

"I'll be fine; I promise I'll take it easy."

Ryomaru looked up as well now. "Sensei?"

"Hm?" Naruto turned to face Ryomaru, whose black eyes were looking straight into his.

"Are you sure?"

Naruto blinked, as for a second he saw Sakura look at him. He mentally shook the image away and smiled. "Yes, I promise I will do almost nothing, and let you guys do the work." That seemed to be a good enough answer to Ryomaru.

"So, what are you going to teach us, sensei?" Kenji asked.

"How to climb tree's by only using your feet." Naruto grinned at the slightly confused faces in front of him.

"Eh?"

"I'll tell you later on the training ground."

Akira came back into the room, and they started talking about what kind of D-rank missions they had done while Naruto was gone and about their training with Sakura. After a while Akira took Ryomaru to his stuffed animals in the corner, to show that one was 'ill'. Ryomaru promised to heal it (though he thought it might be better for Eri to do the sewing, when it came to it, but it turned out to be a 'broken bone').

Sasuke finally entered the room, his hair still damp, looking with a straight face and a slight frown at the still present genin team. Eri shrunk a little, and Kenji actually didn't support a smile on his face when he saw Sasuke, which was a first.

"Ah, Sasuke. You're not angry are you?" Naruto asked, grinning foxily. His tail began softly sweeping the floor.

Immediately Sasuke 'dropped' his slightly scary straight face, and changed it into his normal straight face. He walked to the kitchen to get something to eat for himself and Naruto. As he walked past Akira and Ryomaru, his mouth curved up a little bit for a second when he saw Akira admire Ryomaru's light red healing chakra.

"Hèhè," Naruto grinned and stood up. He opened the second sliding door to the porch (Akira had opened the first when watching the birds in the tree), and sat down there in the sun. Eri hesitated for a moment before walking up to Naruto, and hunched down behind him.

She didn't sit down next to him, but hunched down behind him, and was sitting very still. So Naruto peered over his shoulder to see what she was doing. She was in fact studying his tail.

"Er, Eri-chan?" he asked. Eri looked up, while she saw Ryomaru shuffle a bit closer as well. "What are you doing?"

"I was just wondering... Does your tail changes its fur? Like it has a winter and summer coat? Because I think it looks redder than when we first met you."

"Now that you say that," Ryomaru said as he got closer to the tail himself. "It was more orangey-red back then, and now it is a more deep red."

Kenji stood up and walked over to the porch as well, looking down as he leant against a wooden beam, trying to look uninterested.

"Yes, it does," Naruto said. "Sasuke isn't always happy about it when it starts changing, and he finds all the red hairs all over the place." Naruto grinned.

"I can already imagine that," Eri laughed.

"Right, Sasuke?"

Sasuke stood just inside behind the four and looked down, with some toast in his hand. "Hn." Eri stiffened, not having expected he was so close.

"Tou-chan look, Ryomaru-san made Pom-kun better." Akira showed a stuffed animal, a white cat with grey stripes and a bandaged leg, while smiling broadly.

Suddenly Eri started giggling. Why hadn't they noticed before how close their sensei and Sasuke where?

-x-

Kenji fell down the tree once more, and Eri soon followed him. Ryomaru had been the only one able to walk up the tree in one try, but he already had good chakra control, so Naruto had expected that. He had let him walk the tree some more times, and then had showed him how to walk on water. This seemed a little more difficult, but he was making good progress already.

Eri sighed. She couldn't climb as far as Kenji could. She was coming about two to three meters lower than him, but she was able to walk up instead of running, like Kenji did.

Naruto sat quietly watching his team work and smiled. He wasn't really doing anything, but it felt good to teach his students, be their sensei again.

He and Sasuke had been talking every night for the last 4 days over an hour or so. Just talk about what they felt, about small things. They weren't very good about having profound, emotional conversations, so they just talked about little things like 'how do I tie my hitai-ate around my head with one hand' to 'why do children -Akira- have to be so active all day'. Eventually Sasuke had told Naruto two days ago that he should just go train his genin team, and see what happens; just start slowly.

He had been right.

After about two hours Eri had enough of the climbing. She wasn't making any progress anymore, and Ryomaru was already sitting beside Naruto, because he'd already finished the water walking exercise. She glanced over to Kenji. He'd improved a lot in the last hour, climbing higher. She clenched her fists and decided to walk over to her sensei.

Naruto looked up as he finally saw Eri coming for help.

"Sensei, can you tell me what I'm doing wrong, or what I can improve?"

Naruto considered her for a moment. "Let's ask Ryomaru, I think he will be happy to help you."

"O-of course," Ryomaru stuttered at the sudden request. "Y-you let out a steady f-flow of chakra?"

"Yes."

"E-even when y-you come higher?" he asked, not looking at Eri.

"I-I think so," she thought this over.

Ryomaru looked up to her. "You don't. Y-you keep looking over to K-kenji's progression a-and you don't concentrate on your own f-feet."

Eri stared at Ryomaru, and the tiniest hint of a blush formed on her cheeks. Probably for the first time, she had no answer ready.

"O-okay. Thank you, Ryomaru-kun." She turned around and walked back to the tree. She glanced over to Kenji, and then shook her head. Focusing on her chakra instead, she slowly started walking up the tree.

"Well done, Ryomaru."

Ryomaru jolted at the sound of his sensei's voice and blushed. "T-thanks."

Naruto kept looking down at his student as he started fiddling with his white with red shirt. After a while Ryomaru carefully looked up to Kenji and Eri.

Kenji had pulled off his leather gloves and sleeveless, dark long coat, finding it t0o warm. He was now in his yellow t-shirt and white shorts, running up the tree and was getting very far, but if he would stop he would fall immediately. Whilst in Eri's case, if she would stop, she would be able to hang there until she stopped the flow of chakra. She didn't have trouble getting the chakra into her feet, but controlling it while moving and not getting distracted. Kenji was getting higher, but his control was actually worse than Eri's. He had determination, but lacked the proper control.

Naruto was thinking. After almost five months, Ryomaru was still shy around his teammates, especially when he was praised or spoken to directly. How could Naruto get that over with? He himself had never been a shy person, so he couldn't really figure out why Ryomaru was like this. The green haired boy had four older sisters, who bossed him around. Wouldn't he have developed a bit more spine then?

Naruto frowned and he looked back to his other two students. Ryomaru was shy around Eri, but on the other hand he was most comfortable talking to her. Did he like her? Naruto didn't think so, but he also knew he was quite blind when it came to detecting love.

Eri was nice to him, so that would explain why he liked talking to her; they could actually have a normal conversation. Kenji, on the other hand, was rude and arrogant when he spoke to Ryomaru, so Ryomaru shied away. Though occasionally he would stand up for himself, and tell Kenji what he thought, but that wasn't very often.

"Ryomaru?"

The green haired boy looked up to his sensei. "Yes, Naruto-sensei?"

"You know Kenji's chakra control is worse than Eri-chan's?"

Ryomaru nodded.

"Could you explain to them why?" Naruto and Ryomaru looked at each other.

"Me?" Ryomaru almost shrieked at the sudden request.

"Yes, I'll back you up when you need it."

"A-are you sure?"

"Yes, you can explain these thing way better than I can," Naruto smiled.

Ryomaru turned red, which stood out against his green hair.

Naruto stood up and walked over to the two busy genins. "You can come down for a minute and take a small break."

They both jumped down, Kenji scowling, and stopped in front of him.

"As you might have noticed, there's some difference between the two of you as you are climbing the tree."

Eri and Kenji nodded. Ryomaru had slowly walked up to them as well and was standing behind Naruto.

"Do you know why?"

Eri just stared at Naruto as she thought this over. Kenji opened his mouth and then closed it again.

"I thought so. Ryomaru here is so kind to properly explain this to you." Naruto gently gripped Ryomaru's shoulder and looked at him. "Ready?" he asked softly.

Ryomaru looked up, then to the others and nodded, still red in the face. He took a step forward and fiddled with his shirt.

Kenji wanted to say something about it, seeing that he opened his mouth, but Naruto gave him a look and Kenji closed his mouth again, grumbling.

"T-the main d-difference between t-the t-two of you is-" Ryomaru started, stuttering quite a bit. Naruto stood next to him, and as Ryomaru explained very clearly what the difference was, Naruto noticed his stuttering became lesser and his posture became more straightened up.

"So w-when Eri-chan walks up, she can walk more slowly without-"

Naruto took a step back unnoticeably until he stood behind Ryomaru.

"-and Kenji, uses a lot of chakra when he r-runs up, but you can't-"

Eri listened intently, asking questions when she didn't understand. Kenji first pretended like he actually knew what Ryomaru was talking about all along, but slowly when Eri began asking more questions, he began to sincerely listen as well.

"And what about you?" Kenji demanded when Ryomaru had told him all about what he'd done wrong.

"My control is better than yours, b-but I've been practicing with it a l-lot longer than you a-and I-" Ryomaru began stuttering again as Kenji verbally attacked him. "But m-my control is-is-"

"What?" Kenji asked, sounding a bit angry, getting annoyed by his stuttering.

"Shut up, Kenji, let him speak!" When Eri became angry with Kenji, she let the 'kun' drop from his name.

"You shut up yourself, Eri!"

"I wasn't interrupting him when he couldn't finish his sentence!"

"No, you just smile and giggle. You can't do anything else!"

Eri looked hurt at that. "Well I-I…"

"At least she s-smiles," Ryomaru interfered. Kenji looked to him a bit surprised, but soon resumed his angry look.

"Why would I smile, ninja's don't smile."

"Why not?" Ryomaru asked, still red. He was very close to starting to fiddle with his sweater again.

"You ever heard a giggling ninja in the forest? Of course not, we are quiet."

"Calm down," Naruto intervened and took a step forward again. "Of course no ninja giggles when he's doing a covert mission, but you also have missions where you have to protect a client; and most clients don't like a scowling ninja in their presence."

Kenji huffed.

"What did I tell you about all this before?"

"That we shouldn't fight?" Ryomaru asked. Eri and Kenji looked up to Naruto as well.

"I said that?" Naruto asked out loud.

"You don't even remember what you told us?" Eri asked, while a small bead of sweat rolled down her face.

Naruto laughed awkwardly as his hand went up to the back of his head. "To be honest, I don't," he grinned.

A deep sign was collectively taken.

"Sensei~!"

"Well, I could lecture you about teamwork instead," Naruto said nonchalantly.

"Please don't," Kenji said monotonously.

"We already know," Eri agreed.

"Then why don't you listen to each other?"

"I was, Kenji-kun interfered-"

"And you told Kenji off for it, you attacked him when he attacked Ryomaru."

"So?" Eri looked up, wondering what she had done wrong.

"Ryomaru can stand up for himself, even if you don't think so."

"I-" Eri looked to Ryomaru. "I know he can," she said softly.

"That's not what you're showing him."

Eri looked down. "Oh," she said quietly.

"Kenji?"

Kenji looked up to Naruto. "What?" Naruto just looked at him. Kenji maintained his glare and position with crossed arms, but Kenji still did not understand who Naruto was living with. Kenji's stare was nothing compared to Sasuke's. So Naruto could keep this up until Kenji finally sighed.

"Fine, I'll try to let Ryomaru stutter until he's done." He looked away.

"And Ryomaru, great speech." Naruto smiled and then bent a bit to him, continuing in a softer tone, "Don't forget you did a way better job than I could have done." Ryomaru smiled as he looked down embarrassed at the praise.

"Now, you all know what you did wrong and how to improve yourselves; so get to it. Up in the trees! I expect you to have mastered this before dinner!"

"Hai, sensei!"

Naruto blinked at the confirmation he got, while Kenji and Eri turned around to get back to their trees.

"What was that about?" He wanted to know for sure now.

"Sakura-sensei," was Ryomaru's short explanation.

"Aah." So he'd been right. "I thought so."

* * *

><p>More than two weeks later, Naruto woke up in the morning to the feeling that someone was lying on top of him; someone light. He knew this had to do with the fact that he was purring.<p>

A giggling sound came from on top of him, and when Naruto opened his eyes, he looked into teal eyes.

"Ohayo, Akira-kun."

"Ohayo, Naruto."

Naruto looked to his left and saw Sasuke looking at them from his side of the bed, his arms crossed. _Was he jealous? He couldn't be _this_ protective, right?_ Naruto wondered and grinned.

"It tickles," Akira said as he made cute noises to imitate Naruto.

"Does it?" Naruto asked.

Akira giggled. "Prrrrr."

"Shouldn't you be getting yourself ready for school?" Naruto asked.

Akira would go for a test day to the Academy today and he had been really excited about it for two whole weeks.

Akira shot up. "I am, I am." He smiled. "I already got my bag packed."

"Even his bento box," Sasuke added.

"And I am already dressed." Akira stretched his arms to show so.

Naruto smiled. "Then you can lie back," he seized Akira and pulled him against his chest. "I think you're due for a tickle attack before you go to the academy," Naruto began tickling Akira, who began giggling and laughing as he rolled off Naruto, squirming to get away from his hand.

"Nooo," he laughed. "Tou-chan, h-help!" he giggled.

"Haha, I'll make sure you've laughed enough for the whole week."

"Da~d," Akira giggled and held out his arm to Sasuke. Sasuke grasped it and hoisted Akira away from Naruto's reach, onto his lap.

"You're safe," he said, and Akira hugged him for protection, while a few giggles where still heard.

"No, he's not." Naruto reached forward, between Sasuke's arms.

"Noo," Akira's high voice sounded as he tried to hold Naruto's hand off with a smile on his face. Naruto stopped for a moment at the high sound, flattening his ears, and Sasuke took the opportunity to grasp his wrist.

"Don't tickle my son."

Naruto pouted. "Why not?"

"Because only I can do that."

"No, tou-chan!" Akira pushed himself away from Sasuke, to look up.

"What?"

"You can't! You said you would protect me," he said with his lower lip quivering cutely.

"Ah, I think I did say that," Sasuke said slowly, as if trying to remember.

"You did."

"Hmm," Sasuke said like he thought that over.

"Guess we'll just have to let him go to school then," Naruto said as he broke Sasuke's loose grip on his arm.

"Yay! Academy!" Akira was gone before they could say any more.

"He's excited," Naruto said smiling.

"Isn't he?"

"I can easily image that would have been you."

"Hn."

Naruto smiled, showing his teeth. "Cute little Sasuke, all excited to get to the academy."

Sasuke just stared at him. "You think so?"

Naruto, sitting on his legs, shuffled closer to Sasuke. "I do. Running and screaming through the house." Naruto got closer and leaned forward, so did Sasuke.

"Really?"

"Yes, you're mom must have gone crazy." Their noses almost touched and Naruto closed his eyes.

"Tou-cha~n! Naruto~!" Akira came back up the stair, running into the room. "We gotta go! And Naruto isn't dressed yet!" Akira pressed his bag more firmly against his chest. "You're coming too, right?"

"Of course I will. I'll be ready before you've even put on your sandals."

Akira smiled widely, and turned around to walk downstairs. "Tou-chan!" he called while descending the stairs one stair at the time, holding his backpack in his arm and trying to look over it, clutching the handrail with the other.

Sasuke slowly stood up, and looked at Naruto as he stood up beside him, pulling on his pants. Sasuke closed the button on the back while Naruto straightened his t-shirt.

"Tou-chan!"

"Coming." Sasuke turned away to follow his son, when Naruto ran past him to the kitchen to get some breakfast, before Akira had pulled his sandals on. In the kitchen he would find a sandwich waiting for him.

Sasuke came downstairs, and Akira held out his foot to him. His bag still in his arms, pressed against his chest, so he couldn't bend forward to pull on his shoes.

"Will you help me?" he asked Sasuke, and Sasuke hunched down.

Naruto came walking to them, and sat down beside Akira with the sandwich Sasuke had made for him in his mouth. He took it out of his mouth as he looked down to the small boy.

"That's cheating," Naruto said. Akira grinned and Naruto could swear he had a slight evil glint in his eyes, very much like Sasuke could have. "Hmpf," Naruto huffed and pulled on his own sandals quickly.

Akira stood up, and Sasuke grasped his bag, holding it up to him so he could put it on his back.

"Done," Akira said just as Naruto was standing up.

"Ah, you beat me by a second."

"I did!" He ran to the door, opened it and ran outside.

"And you say I act all mushy and paternal around him," Sasuke said.

"You do." Naruto stepped outside. Akira was already ten meters down the street.

"And you don't?" Sasuke closed the door behind him. "Akira!"

-x-

Naruto sighed as he stood watching his team fight another team. The two teams had been chosen for a joint mission that was in a couple of weeks. That was why they had to train together. Team 9 and team 4.

The sensei of team 4 was a woman with dark lavender hair that was tied up into a knot, held together by two senbons. She glanced sideways to Naruto, who just kept watching his team.

He suddenly noticed he'd begun swirling his tail, which might have been the reason the woman by the name Kazuko kept giving him sideway glances. He turned to the somewhat older woman.

"Kazuko-senpai," she now fully turned her face to him, "would you be able to tell me why Kenji and Kohaku are so fired up today?"

Kuzako turned to look at the two brothers as they fought, while the other team members danced around them awkwardly, not really knowing if they had to stop them or help them.

"I believe Kohaku pulled a prank on Kenji-kun last night." She turned to Naruto again. "Or so I heard Naoko say. I believe this to be quite true though."

Naruto nodded. The two brothers fought a lot. Kenji had always hated Kohaku's humour and jokes. On top of that Kohaku was three years older, and had been a ninja before Kenji. Kenji had been jealous about it, though he would never admit that.

However, nowadays they were both ninja, and Kenji had learned a lot faster than Kohaku when he'd became a genin. Naruto had noticed quite quickly that Kohaku had more knowledge, already being a chuunin and having experience, but that Kenji was better in the use of his ninjutsu and taijutsu.

Finally it appeared Kohaku's female teammates had at last had enough of this fighting within a fight, and actually almost knocked out Kohaku to stop him. The fighting stopped.

"Michi-chan, Naoko-chan, what was that for?"

"Stop being an idiot Kohaku-kun!" Naoko yelled at him, her hands on her hips. "We are supposed to fight as a team against the other team."

"All you did was fight one on one with your stupid little brother," Michi added, she hated Kenji too, though for a different reason.

Naruto had seen the looks on both of Kenji's and Michi's faces as they had stood against each other with their teams for the first time six days ago, their sensei's telling them they had to group together for a certain mission. Eri had been so kind to tell everyone in living colour why they hated each other.

It seemed that they had liked each other, not even over a year ago, up to the point that they had secretly been kissing, but had been caught by Michi's mother. They had been having fights ever since, and no longer wanted to look at each other; Kenji was still trying to ignore her as much as possible till this day.

"I'm not stupid," Kenji brought in, not looking at Michi.

"I'm not so sure about that," Eri joined the conversation, though she was joking.

"Shut up, Eri, go stand with Mister Silence."

"Hé!" Ryomaru sounded offended.

"Sure, why don't you take out your anger on your teammates?" Michi almost yelled at the three year younger Kenji.

"Oh, shut up, like you are so nice to your teammates all the time!" Kenji shot back.

"Please, everyone," Kazuko began and silence fell.

"I'm beginning to wonder where my team went," Naruto said. "I thought I had taught you the most important thing was..." He looked at his team so they would finish his sentence.

"Teamwork," they all mumbled.

"I'm sorry I didn't quite catch that?" Naruto turned his fox ears in their direction, leaning forward a bit to empathize his point.

Eri snorted. "Like that would be possible," she muttered, but when she saw the look on her sensei's face, she tuned in with the rest of her team.

"Teamwork," they now said full out.

"Good."

"Kohaku, come over here, Michi, you too." They both walked to their sensei.

"Apologize." They muttered excuses to each other.

"To the rest." Their sensei continued.

"Sorry."

"Good. I'm quite hungry from all this bickering, let's have lunch," the purple haired kunoichi suggested.

"Oh, yeah!" Naoko and Eri said at the same time. They looked at each other, giggled and then high-fived.

Sitting on the ground around the five wooden posts, they ate. Eri, Michi and Naoko were happily gossiping. Ryomaru had his head turned away while he was reading a medical book. Naruto knew Ryomaru hated gossip, since his four sisters also did that a lot. Kohaku and Kenji were silently having a staring contest.

As Naruto took another mouthful of his instant ramen, he felt Kazuko's eyes on him again. He tried to ignore it. He wondered if she still wasn't accustomed to his fox features.

He turned his ears to her direction and then turned to look at her. She quickly turned to the conversation their female students were having. Naruto looked back at his ramen, crammed between his legs so he could eat from it. He had suddenly lost his appetite, like he sometimes had lately.

He looked into the still half full cup, and changed the position of his chopstick in his hand, so he could put the cup aside. It was such a waste to throw such fine lunch away, he almost pouted at the thought.

He was about to stand up and throw the cup away when Kazuko spoke. "You're not going to finish that?" she asked, her cheeks a bit red.

Naruto looked from the cup to Kazuko. "Er, wasn't planning to, no." He stared at her.

An uncomfortable silence fell for a moment.

"It's just, that it's such a waste." Kazuko looked at the cup.

"Oh… yeah." Naruto had no idea why she was acting like this. Was she still hungry, but didn't dare to ask for his unfinished food? "You can have it if you want too." He held the cup out to her.

"Oh, I couldn't."

"Okay." Naruto retracted his arm and started to turn around.

"No wait, if you're really throwing it away I think I can… I'll eat it if you don't mind."

Naruto turned back and blinked. He wondered if he could possibly ever understand a woman's mind. He didn't think so.

"Sure." He handed her the cup. "Though I'm afraid I don't have an extra pair of chopstick," he said as he looked at the broken ones in her hand.

"Oh, I don't mind." She accepted the cup, and held out her other hand to the chopsticks.

Naruto didn't do anything for a moment and just stared at her outstretched hand, wondering how she thought she was supposed to eat the ramen without chopsticks and why she was reaching to him.

"Oh," he said as he suddenly realized she wanted his chopsticks. "If you're fine with it?" He handed her the chopsticks.

He could hear the girls beginning to giggle, and Kazuko turned a brighter red.

Naruto shrugged and let himself fall back on the grass, gazing at the sky. His shirt and vest were pulled up a bit as he put his arm under his head, showing some bare skin of his stomach. He heard Kazuko choke on some ramen. The giggling of the girls immediately turned louder.

Naruto sat up again. "Is something wrong, Kazuko-senpai?"

"No, no, I'm quite alright. The ramen tastes good." She smiled.

Naruto pulled up an eyebrow and lay back again.

"Aren't you girls finished?" Kazuko asked their students suddenly, sounding agitated.

"Sorry sensei," Naoko said and sniggered as she walked with the other girls back to the field.

Kenji and Kohaku finally broke their staring contest as Ryomaru came to stand in between. They followed the girls.

-x-

Sometime later Naruto and Kazuko stood watching their team again, giving them advice and remarks as they were now practising taijutsu one on one.

After a while Naoko stopped her fight with Eri. "Can't we do something more interesting? I'm tired of taijutsu only."

A grin appeared on Kazuko's face. "We can fight women against men."

"You'll fight with us too?" Michi asked.

Kazuko looked at Naruto. "Sure."

"Um, all right." Naruto hesitated. He had trained a bit with Sasuke lately, but it was still different to fight with one arm, and Sasuke and he were fine-tuned to each other when it came to fighting each other.

He had to be careful with his shoulder, but this could actually be good practice. He grinned. Besides, like anyone could land a hit on him as fast as he was.

As their fight began, Naruto clearly held back and so did Kazuko. Naruto was relieved. He had thought for a moment she had planned to fight him one on one.

Naoko made a move to tackle him, but he easily jumped over her, turning in mid air and throwing a kunai to Kazuko as she had tried to set a jutsu on Kenji. However Naoko grabbed his ankle and easily yanked him back. A bit too easy, she thought, as she was a bit shocked at his very light weight. However, as agile as Naruto was, he easily landed on both feet.

Eri came to him and swayed both her wakizachis, which he didn't even bother to block and easily dodged. He grinned at her as she became very passionate about trying to hit him.

Then suddenly Kohaku jumped in between, making Eri almost lose balance. Naruto spun around and ran away, toward Michi, and stopped behind her. He lowered to his knees and tried to swipe her legs from under her, but she jumped away just like he had done a couple of minutes ago.

At the same time as Naruto was about to stand up, Kazuko wanted to jump over him to attack Kenji. At that moment she bumped into him and they both fell backward, Kazuko on top of Naruto.

Their mouths were touching in an accidental kiss. Kazuko turned lobster red, as Naruto's eyes widened. Their students had become awfully quiet, staring at them, having stopped mid-action.

"S-sssorry," Kazuko stuttered as she shot up, her hands resting on his chest.

"O-okay, it was an accident, but you can get off now." Naruto blushed as well now, as he felt her hands move over his chest, which wasn't necessary at all. Besides, she was sitting more or less on his groin.

"Ahahahaa," she laughed uncomfortably and stood up, her hands needlessly lowering over his stomach as she did so.

Naruto stood up quickly as well; looking away from Kazuko he said, "I've got to go. You know, Sasuke… Have to get Akira-kun from the Academy-" he mumbled, the end was practically inaudible, and he was gone.

Kazuko fumbled with her necklace until she turned to her students, who were quietly observing her.

"Oooh, sensei~"

"Shut up Michi. Come on, we were training, get on with it," she said sternly. Immediately the students came into action again, still sniggering.

Kazuko walked back to the poles and leaned against one. She looked to her students; they were concentrating on their battle once more.

Her eyes glanced up to the sky and a smile crept on her face. She sighed and a blush appeared on her cheeks.

-x-

"Naruto, are you listening?"

"Huh?" Naruto turned to look at Sasuke as they walked to the academy together. "I'm sorry, I wasn't listening." He grinned uncomfortably.

"I noticed," Sasuke said, staring at him.

Sasuke's facial expression then changed, looking more concerned. "Is everything alright, Naruto?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking about something that happened during training." Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "It was actually quite funny, when I think back to it." He grinned. He turned to look at Sasuke and noticed his staring eyes, drilling holes in his own. "Ahaha, I guess it's not _that_ funny." Naruto looked in front again, trying to keep his face straight, while Sasuke kept trying to make holes in his head with his eyes.

"What happened, Naruto?" Sasuke stopped Naruto by grasping his arm.

Naruto turned around, fumbling a bit. "I was training team 9 and as you know we have-"

"They have," Sasuke corrected him.

Naruto went on like he hadn't been interrupted. "-a mission together with team 4 in about a month."

They began walking again.

"With that woman, Kazuko, as their sensei?" Sasuke remembered Naruto mention her name.

"Yes, her." He looked away a bit nervously. "We were sparring and had divided into two groups, the men against the women."

"Don't tell me you actually joined them?"

Naruto almost shrieked at the tone of Sasuke's voice. "I did?"

"Naruto," Sasuke grasped Naruto again, making them face each other, "you know you can't go fighting around like that anymore... or at least not yet."

"It's not like I'm an invalid and can't fight. Besides we would just join our students. It's not like anything would happen." Naruto turned around and they walked further.

"So what happened next?"

Naruto turned his head to Sasuke. He hadn't thought he would be really interested in the story anymore. "I, um..."

"You were fighting men against women."

"Oh, yeah." Naruto swallowed. "It's really not that importa-" he saw the look Sasuke directed at him. "But I see you're interested."

Naruto looked at the street and saw the academy in sight with parents waiting; he was relieved.

"We fought, and I was about to tackle Michi, who jumped away. When I stood up again, Kazuko-sempai bumped into me."

"So?" Sasuke asked as Naruto hadn't made his point yet.

"She fell on top of me. We sort of kissed; _accidentally, accidentally!_" Naruto said the last words with an increased voice, holding his hand up. Sasuke's eyes were very narrow.

"I had to come here, so don't go crazy." He pointed to the school where all the parents were waiting. "Don't want the whole village to know, right?" Sasuke huffed.

As they waited for the bell to ring, they both were very quiet, and looked uncomfortably in different directions. Naruto hoped Sasuke wasn't too angry; he could be so jealous sometimes.

Then they heard the school bell rang, and finally saw the chibi-Sasuke coming from the school. He waved to some new made friend, and then came running over to Sasuke and Naruto.

"Tou-chan, Naruto." He had an enormous smile on his face, and was hyperactively jumping around them.

Iruka walked up behind him. "I don't think I need to say that he really liked it."

"Thanks Iruka-sensei," Naruto said.

"Akira?" Sasuke said.

Akira came to stand next to him and bowed his head a little. "Thank you very much, Iruka-sensei."

"It's okay; it was nice to have you over, Akira-kun. I hope to see you in class again soon." He smiled. "Next school year?"

Akira nodded viciously. "Me too."

The three of them turned around and took off. Akira moved around Sasuke and Naruto while they walked home, bouncing up and down. "Do you know who we learned about today?"

"Do tell, I like stories," Sasuke said sarcastically as he eyed Naruto, but the sarcasm completely eluded Akira, who had no idea what had happened before they got to pick him up. Plus he was too excited to tell his story.

"Yondaime Hokage!"

"Really?" Naruto asked, wondering if that had been a coincidence.

Akira turned to Naruto. "Did you know that he defeated the Kyuubi no Youko?"

It hadn't been a coincidence, definitely not.

"I guess I've heard something about that... sometime." Naruto answered casually, waving his hand. Sasuke gave him a look with narrowed eyes and pursed lips.

"All by himself! Hundreds died and he defeated it."

"Amazing, isn't it?"

"It is! And he looks so awesome." He looked up to the Hokage monument and pointed to the Yondaime. "He has this cool blond hair, and looks like he can defeat anyone." He sounded a bit like he was copying someone he had heard say the same in class.

"A bit like Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

Akira looked around to Naruto, and considered him for a moment, before he answered. "Nah, they look nothing alike," he said as he looked at the ears on top of Naruto's head.

Naruto was completely silent, not knowing how to react, narrowing his eyes.

"Besides, Naruto used to be a fox, so this isn't what he really looked like when he was born. It's more of a borrowed look."

"Heh?" Naruto blinked. What was the boy talking about?

"Are you perhaps a little brother of the Kyuubi?" Akira asked enthusiastically.

"What? No! I-"

"Oh." He sounded disappointed.

Naruto's eye began to twitch. Sasuke laid his hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"First a woman, then kids," Naruto mumbled, clenching his fist.

-x-

As Naruto was making an evening stroll, wanting to get away from the house for a while, he took a liking in the gentle breeze on his face. Most of the time he took walks with Sasuke, who liked to take walks and did so more often than he did. But tonight he'd wanted to go alone, to think.

Unconsciously he laid his hand on his shoulder as it began to sting. This appeared to happen every once in a while lately. It didn't really hurt though.

He sighed.

"Something important on your mind sensei?" Eri jumped up his back, she always did that when they were alone together.

Naruto hadn't heard Eri walk up to him at all. He'd been so deep in thought. As he looked at her he also saw where he was, having been walking randomly on automatic pilot.

"Ah, just…" He shrugged as he held Eri up. Her hands rested on his shoulders.

"Is it Kazuko-sensei? You're not upset about today are you?"

"No, of course not. It was an accident."

Eri raised an eyebrow. "You know that she likes you, don't you?" she asked.

"Huh, really?"

Eri hit his head lightly. "Sensei~. I swear, you can be so thick sometimes."

Naruto grinned. "I've heard that before."

"Didn't you notice her staring at you?" Her arms rested on his chest now, entangled in each other.

"I thought she was still getting used to my ears or something."

"She was _so_ checking out your butt."

"Eri-chan!" He hadn't expected her to say such a thing.

"And about the ramen cup?"

"Must say that was peculiar, but I placed it on the she's-probably-hungry-but-doesn't-dares-to-ask theory."

"That's not a theory, sensei," Eri answered, her eyes squinting. "But you _had_ to notice when she fell on top of you? She was feeling you up none the less."

"Yes, I noticed, Eri-chan." He blushed.

"What did Sasuke-sama say about it?" Eri suddenly asked softly, her grin gone.

"Haha, yeah, he wasn't too happy."

"He can be so possessive."

Naruto nodded.

"But you're still alive, so he must have forgiven you."

They laughed.

"Thanks Eri-chan."

"What for?" she asked confused.

"For accompanying me."

"But we take walks like this together more often."

"Even so…" Eri smiled as she saw Naruto's smile. "How are things at home?"

"Oh, fine, kaa-chan has just completed some big mission a couple of days ago. She was so happy, that she celebrated it by going out to a really expensive restaurant."

Naruto kept smiling as she told how wonderful the food had been and how uptight the waiters were, how her aunt had flirted with one of them, and how she and her mother had laughed about it.

* * *

><p>Tsunade stared at the letter, as a heavily breathing ninja in front of her had just given it to her. Her eyes widened further after reading every sentence. When she finished she crumbled the letter angrily.<p>

The ninja in front of her looked a bit scared, as he saw her face change to a furious look.

"When did you receive this?" she asked, barely holding the anger out of her voice.

"I just found it and came here immediately. I found it about 16 hours ago."

"Good, you've earned your rest. Go to your family, I'll take it from here on."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," she man said as he indeed seemed quite exhausted. He bowed and left the office.

Tsunade looked over the letter once again. She didn't like the way it had been written; the way it spoke of him like he was an object. She had to find out if it was true; if it had really come from this source. Then she would see how to handle it.

"Uma-san!" A masked ANBU with a horse mask appeared in front of her.

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

"I've got a job for you."

-oXo-

A/N: Hope you liked the part where team 9 finds out about Naruto and Sasuke ^^ (either way I enjoyed writing it). Oh, and yes, there _is_ a plot in this story... somewhere :P


	17. Chapter 17: Fit to be a ninja again

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sensei.

This chapter has been beta-ed by MS3923 :D

Wow, I really got a lot of reviews last chapter, thank you all! You guys make my day ^^

Plus with this chapter I'm over 100.000 words in total... but don't worry, many more words will follow :)

-oXo-

**Chapter 17: Fit to be a ninja again**

_3__rd__ of September_

Tsunade was sitting behind her desk. Piles and piles upon piles of papers were surrounding her. She brushed her hair out of her face and sighed. Just a simple excuse and she would take it with both hands. One simple excuse and she would get out of her office and do something else.

It seemed like she had been doing nothing but paperwork for the last few days and nights. Paper, ink, paper, stamp, ink, paper... She felt like going crazy. She needed a break and some sake if she could find some.

Shizune had found her last bottle and had taken it away. She needed sake right now. She let her head rest on the paper she was supposed to read. Just for a while she could close her eyes, just a few minutes, and Shizune wouldn't notice. No one had to know.

Suddenly she woke up, and quickly checked the area for short, black haired woman. She found none, she was safe, and then remembered Shizune was at her home with the flu.

She sunk back into the chair, and wiped away some drool. She was just beginning to wonder why she had woken up, when she heard a BANG.

"I need to talk to Hokage-sama!" a voice sounded on the other side of the door.

"She's busy; you can't just get in like that, sir."

Tsunade sighed. Great, not another nutcase who wanted to see her about some trivial thing. That would be the third this week. Quickly she grasped her stamp and began reading the form in her hand, hoping her guard would take care of the man on the other side.

"I need-"

"No, sir!"

A blond eyebrow began to twitch. This wasn't working. Did that man know what time it was? It was... Tsunade looked around for some time indication. She finally found it. It was... already 10:00 in the morning! Where had the night gone to? Hastily she scraped some papers together.

All of a sudden she froze up.

Why did she bother? She didn't have a deadline or something, she was the Hokage (and Shizune wasn't around). Again she sighed and let the papers fall.

"Sir, just go this way, and we will take care of your problem."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, please come with this lovely lady over here. She will take you to the right place."

"O-okay."

Why was she doing this again? She tried to think, but it just didn't work. With a THUD her head fell on her desk. She needed a reason to get out of this place.

-o-o-o-

Naruto walked two stairs at a time. He noticed that it was quiet in the tower. He'd only seen an old man with a lovely desk lady walking downstairs. Well, it was still rather early. At least he thought so.

Sasuke had asked him to bring his report to the Hokage, since he'd promised to take Akira to the park. Naruto hadn't minded, he was going to the training field anyway, so why not make a nice walk through the village on his way there.

He greeted the guard sitting at the desk, and walked up to the office doors. He knocked softly. No response, so he just opened the doors. Ryomaru might have taught him to knock before entering, but knocking once was more than enough.

When he entered Tsunade's office, all he saw were papers. It was eerily silent, and all Naruto heard was a soft snoring from within the pile of papers. Soundlessly he made his way through the paper-jungle, careful not to knock anything over, and finally came to stand behind Tsunade.

He had this urge to scare her, but with great self-restrain he was able to let it go. He took a look at all the papers, before gently poking Tsunade in the shoulder.

"Huh? What?"

"Tsunade," Naruto whispered, "I think you should get a break."

"Wha-?" She blinked a few times before her eyes began to focus on Naruto. "Naruto?"

Naruto smiled. "I've got a deal for you."

Tsunade was finally waking up, and realising that she was _still_ in her office. "What?" she asked abruptly.

"If you can help me create Bunshins, I'll help you with your paperwork." Naruto knew he wasn't able to do such a thing, but he saw she really needed a break.

On the other side, Tsunade also knew she wouldn't be able to help him with that, or at least not in one day, but also knew this was her 'opportunity' she had been waiting for. "I would like to see you try." She pushed a blonde pigtail over her shoulder.

"Deal."

-x-

Over at the training ground Naruto showed Tsunade he was already able to control his chakra pretty steadily, and told her he wasn't tired all the time anymore. She wanted to see his shoulder, so he took off his shirt. The wound had healed properly and the seal on his stomach wasn't showing anymore.

"See, nothing wrong, all healed nicely." Tsunade nodded, and then Naruto was finally able to make her sit down. She looked really tired and overworked. Naruto was actually a bit worried about her.

As she sat down, making herself comfortable, Naruto pulled his shirt back on, and started practicing his chakra control, which he had been doing for a couple of weeks now, to try and find out a way to work around the hand sign for his Kage Bunshin. He'd had to admit what a loss this jutsu was to him. He'd never really realized how often he used it.

He took a breath and closed his eyes. He could feel the chakra coming from Kyuubi and mixing with his own. He could feel the mixed chakra run through his entire body. He could feel the nature around him, and how everything was in balance and-

Naruto opened his eyes. This had happened a lot when he did this. He had almost begun to collect natural-energy.

He looked up to Tsunade, and saw her sleeping against the tree. Naruto smiled. Now, as for his problem; he thought he would just have to try some things, and see which solution worked best for him. He'd tried to come up with some ways to work around the loss of his arm, but hadn't come very far. He hoped that on the training ground things would progress better.

Naruto breathed in and started to call some chakra forward. It spread over his body in a thin layer, and he tried to let it form an extra pinkie. He'd tried this before, and he was able to make extra chakra fingers now, but his goal was of course to form an extra arm. However that sounded much easier than that it was.

It was easy to let skin be covered by the chakra as it had something to connect to. He could also create shapeless chakra in places without skin or flesh, but those shapeless shapes where just that, shapeless and could not grasp anything or keep attached to anything else.

However he was now able to form three extra fingers that could take hold of an object without letting it fall. He was ready to make a hand now. It was good that he could form extra fingers and perhaps extra hands, but they didn't really have any use. The extra fingers were more of an annoyance than actual help for more practical use.

He let the chakra shape itself in some sort of tentacled hand, before it lost form.

Naruto hoped that when he was able to form a hand, and eventually an arm, it would not only be able to replace his missing arm in use, but also be able to use it to make hand signs, but that was still a rather long shot. First he needed to focus on the arm, and before that on a hand.

A couple of hours of practicing, and Naruto was finally able to form some weird shape with five fingers, but they couldn't really do much else then move around in all different directions.

Exhausted Naruto sat down on the ground and looked over to Tsunade. She was still sleeping, and seemed to have a nice nap at that. She had been working herself through a lot of paperwork lately. Naruto wondered how that had happened. Perhaps they were cleaning up or something, or she was looking through old files. It was true though that this had happened around the same time that Shizune had caught the flu.

After a small break Naruto went quickly to town to get some food. When he came back, he hunched down next to Tsunade, and held a deliciously smelling chicken leg in front of her nose, moving it back and forth teasingly.

Tsunade sat up right so sudden and with such speed, that Naruto fell on his butt out of surprise. "Wow. I guess you _are_ hungry," Naruto grinned.

Tsunade looked over to the food and then to Naruto. "Give me that."

As they were eating, Tsunade looked up to Naruto. "So, how are the Bunshins going," she grinned.

"You know as well as I do, that I can't do that."

"So you didn't even try?"

"Of course I have; even with Sasuke standing next to me, telling it was impossible." Tsunade smiled.

Naruto turned back to his chicken. After he was done, he licked his fingers.

"Ne, Tsunade?" Naruto looked up to the sky as he leaned back on his arm.

"Yes?"

"On our first mission outside Konoha we met up with some rogue Kiri ninja, Haku, and he could do single handed seals."

Tsunade looked at him, wondering what he wanted with that information.

"You think he was a special case? You ever met a ninja who could do that?" He looked back to Tsunade, straight into her brown eyes.

Tsunade considered him for a moment. "No, I've never met someone who could do that. Not on such a level."

"Yeah, I thought so. I probably could never do hand signs with one hand. I wasn't really good at it anyway." Naruto grinned, but it wasn't a really happy grin.

"I'm sorry Naruto."

"Well. You haven't seen any of my training yet," Naruto stood up, ignoring Tsunade's last sentence. "I'll convince you to send me on missions again."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes, not thinking she would.

"Look at this."

-x-

Tsunade had fallen asleep again, not long after Naruto's small demonstration of his chakra cloak and extra fingers. Tsunade had been really impressed, especially when he told her he could make a single handed Rasengan. He showed her before she could even protest or tell him otherwise.

"And without any side effects," he had told her. He had been practicing it for some weeks now, and eventually Sasuke had helped him, after Naruto had been pestering him again and again about helping him.

She inspected his hand, and really couldn't find anything wrong with it at all. His hand was back to the way it was; no scars or damaged tissue at all.

So when Naruto kept nagging her to send him on missions again, she had no real reason to not let him (though they would only be D-rank missions with his team, she decided). Naruto had done a sort of victory lap, and Tsunade had sat back down against the tree, smirking.

Right now Naruto was hunching as he tried to form another chakra hand, but he was quite tired after all the chakra he'd used today. The chakra hand feebly formed into the right shape of a hand, but when Naruto tried to lift something with it, it vaporized, as did the rest of the chakra around his body.

Naruto fell flat on his butt, and wiped some sweat from his brow.

"You should try to make the chakra cloak smaller, only around your arm," Tsunade suddenly said as she stood beside him.

"Gak." Naruto hadn't heard her at all, busy concentrating on his training.

Tsunade smiled, and reached out a hand to help him stand up.

"Feeling better?" Naruto asked her, and they started walking back to the Hokage tower.

"It's a good thing Shizune is ill, or she would have hauled me back already, and put me back to work."

"Ha," Naruto looked at her, "What would she say about the Hokage not being in her office for half a day?"

Tsunade stopped walking. "Half a day?"

"Yeah, Tsunade." Naruto turned to her. "You know what? I'll help you out, because you er... helped me train, ne?"

Tsunade eyed him before she proceeded walking again. "Yes, that actually sounds pretty good."

"Just remember, can only use one hand." He moved his hand, waving his fingers.

"Don't worry; you can do a lot of paperwork with just one hand."

Naruto shifted his tail. "Just tell me what to do." He smiled.

* * *

><p>Sasuke seemed to punch into empty space.<p>

THUD

"Itai, Sasuke! You broke my nose! We are supposed to work _with_ each other," Naruto grumbled, holding his slowly bleeding nose.

"Then don't sneak up on me."

"I was about to cover your back!"

"Too late for that," Kakashi said as he came jumping right at them.

Naruto side stepped, trying to fix his nose.

Kakashi then kicked Sasuke in the stomach, and went after him as he had been kicked away.

Another crunching noise came from Naruto as he set his nose. He wiped away the blood, and spat some blood on the ground, before hurrying after Sasuke and Kakashi.

Sasuke made some hand signs to spit some fireballs to Kakashi, who copied his jutsu and returned it.

"Come on Kakashi, you're not going to fight like this, are you?" Sasuke asked, preparing his next jutsu.

Naruto was close to Kakashi now, but just before he got to him he turned around, just missing a dangerous punch from Sakura, and caught the punching hand at the wrist. He turned her around so she was with her back against his chest and his arm around her neck, still holding her arm in his hand.

"You forgot something," Sakura said.

"I know," Naruto said, as Sakura held a kunai in her free hand and was about to stab him in his leg, but then his tail came forward and wrapped around her arm so it was unusable too.

Sakura's eyebrows rose a little. "I didn't know you could do that?"

"Well, having only one arm makes you try other things." Naruto grinned.

"So are we going to stand here until either Sasuke or Kakashi finishes his fight, and whoever is the winner will decide what happens to us?"

"I guess so; I hadn't worked things out past this point."

Sakura didn't feel like trying to escape. So they just stood there watching Sasuke and Kakashi fight. Sasuke was firing jutsu after jutsu, and Kakashi was returning them.

Sakura sighed. "Not again, this could take a while," she said, remembering some other training sessions where Sasuke and Kakashi had kept copying each others jutsus all training long. They probably had copied all of each other's jutsus a long time ago.

"Yeah," Naruto mumbled.

However, Sasuke apparently had enough of this too, and conjured up a ribcage with an arm that quickly clasped on top of Kakashi, who was in the middle of making some hand signs. The unfinished Susano'o seized Kakashi, and lifted him in its hand.

"Maa, that's cheating," Kakashi said as he hung limply in the hand, with a face that said he gave up, not feeling like fighting the enormous shape around Sasuke.

"You never said we could not use the Mangekyou Sharingan." Sasuke made another arm appear to seize Sakura.

"Ah, don't bother Sasuke-kun. You win," Sakura said, not feeling like being lifted like Kakashi.

Sasuke grinned, and lowered Kakashi as his Susano'o dissolved again. Naruto let go of Sakura.

"Didn't know you could do that," Kakashi said, as he pointed to Naruto's tail that was unfolding from its grasp around Sakura's arm.

"Yeah, well, sometimes you need to be creative with what you're given." Naruto smiled, and Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Can you hold a kunai with it as well?" Sakura asked as she held her unused kunai out to him.

"I'm not sure." Naruto turned his tail a bit to her, and tried to get a hold on the kunai. He had trouble with it, and Sakura almost lost a toe when it fell to the ground.

"Sorry," Naruto apologized.

Sakura picked up the kunai. "A prehensile tail," she muttered.

"A what?"

"I think you might eventually be able to hold a kunai with it if you trained your tail," she said.

"Really?"

"It looked like you almost had it before it fell," Kakashi said.

"Cool."

"Can we see more?"

"You're not finished yet, are you?" Suddenly some voices came from behind them, as three genin came almost running to them.

Team 9 had finished their missions some time ago, and had come to watch team Kakashi fight, to wait for their sensei. Eri was almost bouncing out of excitement, and Kenji couldn't contain his enthusiasm either. This fight was awesome.

Sakura looked to Naruto. "Ready for another round?"

"Always! Same formation?"

"Okay."

Naruto's hand went up to his nose again, and he felt it. It was almost healed already, cartilage was easy to heal; it wasn't dense like his bones. "Any rules this time?" he asked as he walked over to Sasuke, wiping away some dried up blood.

"Of course not; in real fights there are no rules either." Sasuke stared at Kakashi as he said this.

"Fine, fine," Kakashi waved his hand to them, and walked a little closer to Sakura.

"Let's start."

Sakura made the first move, and punched the ground. As the ground became unstable to stand on, Sasuke and Naruto jumped away, but Kakashi already had a few nice jutsus ready for them. Naruto pulled Sasuke out of the way, and managed to turn around himself, to land next to Sasuke.

Sasuke threw some shuuriken and kunai to Kakashi to disturb his hand signs, but Sakura reflected them. Naruto jumped to her and started a taijutsu match. He got some hits, but he returned them as well. How he missed his arm right now; Sakura held the advantage because of this.

He made a Rasengan and was about to hit Sakura with it, when he was suddenly pulled back by his vest. Kakashi pulled him away and let him go.

Sasuke jumped up to Sakura instead, his katana drawn and ready to cut Sakura. She made some hand signs, conjured up a stone wall, and quickly jumped away as she knew Earth was vulnerable to Electricity, but it had served its job. She began the preparation of a genjutsu.

Kakashi dodged Naruto's leg and caught it, he swung Naruto away and jumped to Sasuke, who was about to attack Sakura again. Sakura finished the hand signs and aimed her genjutsu to Naruto, who was running to her.

Because Naruto thought she had been doing hand signs for a ninjutsu, he didn't bother to step away, and was hit by her genjutsu instead.

At first he was disorientated, but before he could fully realise what she'd done, the genjutsu had already lifted. His chakra was a mix of two combined chakra's and repelled most genjutsu. He didn't even notice small genjutsus, and Sakura had used an average one, she didn't have the time to make a stronger one.

However, the small distraction had been enough for Sakura to come near him and punch him on the jaw. He landed a couple of metres away, and had to bury his feet in the ground to brake.

His hand was up his face, tenderly rubbing his jaw, swaying a little. He felt he had a split lip, and he actually felt his jaw bruising. Normally such a punch would have broken someone's jaw. Naruto looked up to Sakura; he would have his revenge. He would try something new he had been working on for some time.

His tail was swinging from left to right, and it actually seemed to grow. Sakura was on her way to him as she saw this happening, but when she took a better look, she noticed it wasn't his tail that was growing, but the chakra that was forming around it. As it waved, the tail doubled itself. Sakura slowed down when she saw the two tails split in four, into eight and then nine.

She stopped running and her eyes widened. "What the-?"

Naruto grinned foxily and jumped to her, the chakra tails swishing with the wind behind him. He landed in front of her, and immediately the tails tried to wrap around her.

She evaded a few of them, but nine tails were a bit too much. Now she saw that Naruto was completely covered in a thin veil of chakra.

He grasped a kunai and brought it closer to Sakura. "This is for the punch," he said, grinning.

Sakura narrowed her eyes, "Not if it's up to me." She strengthened her arms with chakra, and ripped two chakra tails off that had wrapped around her arm.

Naruto squeaked, and Sakura ripped another one off, but new tails were forming again. Fortunate for her, Kakashi came to help her, and sliced three tails in one swing of his hand.

"Okay, I have to admit it's not a perfect jutsu," Naruto said as the last tails were about to be cut in two. He quickly retracted his real tail.

Sasuke kicked Sakura in her side, and she was thrown against Kakashi. Sasuke quickly grasped Naruto's arm, to pull him away from a few shuuriken Kakashi had managed to throw before Sakura had landed on top of him.

Sasuke took Naruto and they landed a good distance away. He turned around, stepped in front of Naruto, and made hand signs. He took a deep breath, and an enormous fire ball was blown from his mouth to Kakashi and Sakura, who were still untangling themselves.

In this time Naruto had finished entering sage-mode and was standing up, while he was already creating a Rasenshuuriken. As the fireball was about to reach their other teammates, Naruto threw the spinning Rasengan into the fireball. When it hit it, the fireball shrunk a little at first, and then...

BAM!

The fireball expanded when the Rasenshuuriken did. It burnt away trees and levelled the landscape of the training ground. Naruto brought up his arm in front of his face while his clothes blew around him, his empty sleeve waving behind him.

Kenji thought the Hokage must have surely seen the fireball from her office. Heck, the whole of Konoha must have seen it. Eri just stared her eyes out, her mouth hanging open.

When the fire finally died down, and it became clear that there was nothing left of the environment, Ryomaru began to worry about his beloved Sakura-sensei, who he admired so much as a medic nin.

"You think we went a bit too far?" Naruto asked as he uncomfortably grinned at their surroundings, his hand in his neck.

"Hm, perhaps we did." Sasuke looked slowly around as well.

After a while the ground in the clearing started moving, and Kakashi and Sakura emerged, looking rather dishevelled. Sakura looked around her, before her eyebrow began to twitch angrily when she had found her target.

"Are you guys CRAZY? You could have killed us! Look what you did to the training ground!"

"We went too far."

"We did."

"If Kakashi hadn't seen this coming, and if we hadn't been able to _both_ use an Earth jutsu on _this_ level, we would have never been able to get deep enough under the ground!" She ranted on some more about their irresponsibility as dirt fell from her hair and ragged clothes.

"Let's not use it during practice again, even though it looked awesome."

"Hn," Sasuke agreed.

Sakura stood up, still fuming and cursing words Naruto had never heard coming from her mouth ever before.

"Should we run?"

"Perhaps _you_ have to."

"Huh? Why me? Why not you too?" Naruto pulled up an eyebrow in question, looking at Sasuke.

"Okay, I'll protect you too; you can stand under my Susano'o as well," Sasuke said as if he was talking about sharing his umbrella with Naruto.

"Really? Thanks." Naruto pasted his armless side against Sasuke's right side, just in case, as Sakura came closer. Kakashi was still a bit wobbly as he finally fully emerged from the hole, also dirt falling from his silver hair.

"That was AMAZING!"

"So cool!"

Naruto's students came running to them, very impressed by their performance, and waving away the fact Sakura and Kakashi had almost died.

"Can you teach us?"

"NARUTO~! SASUKE~!" (No more Sasuke-_kun_) Sakura was cracking her knuckles now.

"Sorry guys, I think team practice will be cancelled today." Naruto looked back to Sakura, who seemed almost to be on fire. Oh wait, that was chakra radiating evilly around her body.

"Ow," came the disappointed sound from Eri, and then they saw Sakura as well; they could actually feel the killing intent.

"I think my mom told me to be home early today anyway, so..." Kenji turned away, and was soon followed by Eri and Ryomaru. Almost immediately they started running to get their behinds into safety.

"I'm going to KILL YOU!" Sakura seethed and stopped in front of Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto wondered why Sasuke hadn't put the Susano'o up yet.

"You," she pointed against Naruto's chest, "and you," her finger almost drilled a hole in Sasuke's, "are so dead when I'm through with you!"

"Rather not Sakura-chan, I've had enough near death experiences, and don't need to lose more limbs. I think I'll pass this time if you don't mind."

Sakura roared; it was the only way to describe it, a roar. She made a move to strangle Naruto, who almost didn't believe Sasuke would protect him anymore, when the ribcage formed. Sakura crunched a rib instead. She was pulling back her arm to punch for real this time, when Sasuke quickly finished Susano'o, and Sakura's punch felt like a vibration through the ghost-like form.

"Phew," Naruto sighed as he looked around at Sasuke's creation. "This is pretty cool actually."

"Hm, I must say that I wasn't sure if you would be able to stand here beside me."

"What?" Sasuke shrugged. "You would have left me to the wrath of Sakura-chan alone?"

"Of course not, I would have swiped her away from you if you had been repelled."

Naruto pursed his lips. Then he looked around again. "I think you're using some of my chakra too," he said as he felt a slight chakra-drain.

"Yes, I can see it now."

"Interesting."

As Sasuke and Naruto stood quietly conversing like nothing was wrong, Sakura was slowly ceasing her attempts of trying to break the Susano'o. She had managed to break some bones of the big shape, but they were already starting to heal. Kakashi was finally beside her, and tried to calm her down a bit as he laid his hand on her shoulder.

"They have to get out of there sometime. He can't keep it up forever!" she seethed.

"They might get near it. It seems Naruto's chakra is also being used," Kakashi said as he watched the bone in Susano'o's arm healing itself.

Sakura looked at the shape before kicking it fiercely one last time. "Fine!" She turned around and stormed off the field.

Kakashi looked at the two chatting boys in front of him. He couldn't believe Naruto actually stood there with Sasuke. He'd once tried to do the same when Sasuke was beginning to form the Susano'o, but he had been repelled by its chakra immediately.

"She's gone, you're safe now," he told them, and pulled down his hitai-ate over his left eye.

They looked around and realised he was right, so Sasuke let the form disappear.

"She has to go on a mission tomorrow, right?" Naruto asked hopefully.

"Yes, with me... Now I have to handle not only Guy, but a pissed Sakura as well. Thank you for that."

"Sorry, Kakashi-sensei. You can come over and have dinner with us to make up for it." Naruto showed his teeth with a grin.

"Can Anko come?" Kakashi was seriously considering this peace offer (it meant he didn't have to make dinner tonight; seeing it was his turn).

Naruto looked to Sasuke. "Sure," Sasuke said. What difference did it make, one or two crazy people...

"Well, that would be nice. I'll be going then; you guys clean up the mess?" Kakashi had left before either of them could answer.

Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other.

"Are we going to clean it?"

"Nah, that's a nice D-rank mission."

"Chances are you still end up doing it then," Sasuke told Naruto.

"Might be, but there still is a chance I won't. Plus if I do have to do it, I'll get paid for it." Naruto smirked, turned away from the field, and together they walked back home.

-x-

Sasuke was lying on his side against the back of the couch. In front of him, resting against his chest, was Akira lying in a same pose. Both were sleeping. Sasuke had his arm around Akira, like he was protecting him even in his sleep.

Naruto sat at the round low table, resting his head on his arm. He was studying Sasuke and the chibi.

They looked so peaceful, calm and above all cute; looking almost the same, only the difference in age really setting them apart.

Naruto smiled. He'd been watching them for over half an hour now.

It looked like Akira was dreaming, as he made small movements with his hands and mouth.

"Sql," he mumbled, "Sqrl."

Naruto sighed and closed his eyes; even in his dreams all Akira thought about were animals.

When Naruto opened his eyes again, he turned to look outside. It was quite windy as the treetops kept going back and forth.

Then his eyes fell on the orchid in the window, and he stood up. He walked over to the light purplish flower he'd given Sasuke, so he would have a plant to take care off as well.

He'd done a good job at it so far. The flowers were beautiful. Naruto touched them. After a moment he took the small watering can, and began watering all plants in the living room, the kitchen next, and came back to the living room when he'd made a circle around the stair (which was in the centre of the house). The plants upstairs had been watered some days ago already.

He put the can down, and turned around to see the two ravens still asleep. They must be tired to be sleeping this long.

The blond made a move forward, but from then on things didn't go as planned. His empty sleeve was caught on a small hook in the wall, where there hung the framed drawing Akira had made for Naruto. As he was in the middle of stepping around the chair, he couldn't quite move back anymore. Instead he turned a bit to face the wall, and seemed to balance on his toes for a moment as his sleeve was stretched out. Then his sleeve decided that it could no longer hold onto the hook in this angle, and it shot straight at Naruto's face while he fell backward.

"Eek."

He tumbled over the chair, made an interesting roll, and landed face first on the ground.

"Itai~," he mumbled into the floor.

Sasuke slowly opened his eyes, and peered over his son to Naruto. Unconsciously he pressed the chibi closer to his chest.

"You okay?"

"It-t-t-t." Naruto put his hand on the ground and lifted his face up. "Still got all my teeth," he said as he turned his head to Sasuke.

"Dobe."

"Meh."

Before Naruto could stand up, the doorbell rang.

Akira shot up, almost colliding his head with Sasuke's chin, if it hadn't been for Sasuke's fast reaction to move his head back.

"Birdie?" he asked sleepily.

Naruto stood up and walked to the door. A few minutes later he came back.

"Tsunade wants to see us," he told Sasuke.

"Can I come?" Akira asked.

Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other, which confirmed they were thinking the same thing. _Tsunade had found out about the training field._

"That might not be such a bad idea," Naruto slowly said.

"I agree." Perhaps the boy's presence would ease Tsunade's anger and punishment a bit… even just a tiny bit.

"Yay!"

-x-

It turned out that Tsunade had not known about the field (yet), but had just wanted to see Naruto about the joint mission of his team with team 4 for the next day.

After she'd finished talking to Naruto she had dismissed him. Sasuke and Akira had stayed since she still had something to discuss with Sasuke, she'd said. Probably about how things were going with Naruto or something. She tried not to show it, but she was still a bit hesitant about sending him on this mission; even though it had already been three weeks ago that she'd been with him on the training ground.

When Sasuke got back, Naruto was standing in the kitchen, washing some vegetables in the sink. Sasuke folded his arms around Naruto's chest, and had to bow a little to let his chin rest on Naruto's armless shoulder.

"I see you're still alive. So does that mean she really didn't know about the training field?"

"Not yet, no." Sasuke started kissing Naruto's jaw and earlobe.

"What did she want?" Naruto pulled some lettuce from the sink, and laid it on the counter.

"Something about my mission for tomorrow." He was sucking on the earlobe now. Naruto felt a spark run down his spine and cringed.

"You got a mission too tomorrow then." He tried to get the leaves from the crop.

"Hm," Sasuke moaned a confirmation in Naruto's ear, it tickled.

Sasuke reached forward with one hand, and held the lettuce still so Naruto could pick the leaves more easily. His other hand went under Naruto's shirt and folded around his chest just like before, his hand resting just under the scar of the missing arm.

Instead of making it easier for Naruto to pick the leaves, he made it harder as Naruto felt him licking his ear and his hand moving over his skin. "Wh-where's Akira-kun?" His tailed swished against Sasuke's pants and couldn't stop the purring slowly coming from his chest and throat.

Sasuke was getting tired of detaching himself to answer Naruto. "He wanted to go with Shizune, and she thought it was okay. He would have to stay over somewhere tomorrow anyway, and apparently he likes it at her home." Quickly he went further where he'd left off, and decided not to stop anymore.

"Mu," Naruto moaned again, and stopped with what he was doing. Instead he gripped the sink. Sasuke retracted his arm from the vegetable, and let it roam under Naruto's shirt.

"Did s-something good ha-happen when you w-where at the Hokage's... office?" Naruto asked with a slightly ragged breath.

"Hm," Sasuke moaned, and his hands that were exploring Naruto's torso went lower. He grinded into Naruto, who couldn't take it anymore and turned around.

"Definitely something good," Naruto mumbled before he stood on his toes and kissed Sasuke on the mouth.

Sasuke's hands were now on Naruto's buttocks, and Naruto's hand was somewhere roaming over Sasuke. When his hand came to Sasuke's shoulder, he'd had enough of standing tiptoe and jumped up, folding his legs around Sasuke's waist

Sasuke moaned into the kiss, and pushed Naruto back to the sink. His hands disappeared under Naruto's shirt once more. In the mean time Naruto was unzipping Sasuke's green vest, and as Sasuke's hands left his buttocks to go under his shirt, he pulled it off so it fell on the ground. Then he zipped open Sasuke's long white coat, and let his hand travel over his torso, to finally lay it on the small of Sasuke's back, which made Sasuke arch into him again.

Sasuke's right hand traveled over Naruto abdomen, and followed the now visible lines of the seal. He knew them by heart, so he didn't need to see them to trace them. He ended at Naruto's navel, and then pulled his hand back to stroke through Naruto's hair and ears, and finally cupped Naruto's chin.

This time Naruto arched his back and Sasuke's left hand went to the button on the back of the blonds' pants to untie his tail, which was lifting up with the arching of his back. Then he undid the front.

Naruto didn't even try to loosen Sasuke's pants, knowing Sasuke would be able to do it a lot faster, and instead concentrated on Sasuke's soft lips, his fox ears low on his head.

Finishing untying his pants, Sasuke wrapped his arms around Naruto again, and brought them over to the other wall, pressing Naruto against it, so he didn't have a sink in his back.

-L-

Naruto pushed down Sasuke's black pants and boxers till it fell on his knees, and Sasuke pushed back his clothing. They didn't had any lubrication in hands reach or a good substitute, but ah well, he was kind of in a hurry himself. So when Sasuke pushed him roughly against the wall, Naruto knew Sasuke needed him now too. With some help from Naruto, Sasuke positioned himself at his entrance and pushed forward.

Naruto remembered why they used lubrication, and why it wasn't a very good idea to do without, but for the same reason they didn't use protection anymore, he left everything to his fast healing, and tried to think of something else instead.

When Sasuke was fully sheathed inside Naruto, Naruto began licking Sasuke's neck and kissing it. Sasuke moaned into his ear, and Naruto's breath hitched for a moment; even more so when Sasuke began pulling back and forth, in and out, and pushed him against the wall while doing so.

Naruto tried to continue the kisses, but he had a hard time doing so; Sasuke was erotically breathing into his ear. Then he hit his prostate, and Naruto pressed Sasuke more firmly against himself. Sasuke wanted to pull one of his hands back from Naruto's hips, to tease the blonds' erection, but he couldn't manage without making odd movements. Naruto didn't mind, and placed Sasuke's hand back, as he was able to feel better when he held him firmly. He curled his tail around the both of them.

Naruto could feel his high coming and cramped up a few times. He could feel Sasuke's lips brush against his neck, and his dark long bangs tickling his normal ear. His fox ears lay flat on his head once more, and with Sasuke pushing deep inside him against that special spot, he came.

He cramped around Sasuke, and Sasuke felt his ragged breath in his neck; his one hand on his buttock, his soft tail around them, his sweat mixing with his own as their cheeks touched, his purring vibrating through their connecting chests. Naruto felt so good and so did he. He came as well, and leaned against Naruto and the wall.

Slowly they lowered against the wall, until Sasuke was on his knees with Naruto in his lap. They sat there, clutching each other for some time, trying to catch their breaths. Slowly Naruto's tail unfolded itself.

-L-

"Wow," was the only thing Naruto could say at the moment, his ears gradually standing up.

"Yes." Sasuke pulled back a little from Naruto's grasp, and placed his forehead against Naruto's. They stared into each other's eyes, both sparkling. "I think dinner can wait a little longer."

"You want to take a shower?" Naruto asked.

"And proceed this there."

Naruto pulled his head back. "Really?" he asked a bit amazed, his ears pricked and the purring stopped for a moment.

Sasuke gave him a mischievous grin.

-x-

Naruto shifted on his place on the ground, as Anko kept staring at him.

"So I think she's fine now. Just don't try to blow us up anymore," Kakashi said as he looked at his empty bowl.

Sasuke smirked. "Still, I don't mind her being away for a couple of days." Sasuke looked over to Naruto, as he slowly moved his chopsticks to his mouth while he kept staring to Anko, and she back to him. He raised up an eyebrow.

Kakashi turned to look as well, blinked, and laid his chopsticks away.

Naruto's chopsticks almost reached his mouth, and then stopped. He moved his hand away and looked down to his food. He moved it back to his mouth, but stopped again.

Retracting his hand, he let the food drop in his bowl. "What?" he asked, sounding irritated.

"Hm?" Anko said, looking like nothing was wrong.

"Stop staring!"

"Why? You feel uncomfortable?"

"What if I do?"

"I won't stop staring."

"What if I don't."

"I won't stop staring."

Naruto growled, picked up some food again, and started eating.

"Why are you doing this?" Naruto asked as Anko kept staring at him.

"I like teasing you," she grinned, her head resting on her hands.

Naruto pursed his lips, pouting. This only made Anko giggle.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Naruto was still pouting at her, with his chopsticks somewhere in between his mouth and bowl.

"Eat your food, Naruto," Sasuke said. Naruto turned to him. Slowly he began eating again. "Anko, you want more?" Sasuke asked, holding the pan in his hands.

"No, I'm fine, thank you." She looked to Naruto again, and leaned forward to him, whispering, "You always eat this slow?"

"You keep distracting me, how am I supposed to eat like that?" Naruto muttered irritated.

"Maa, maa, Anko, let him eat."

"Aw, come on Kakashi, you like it as well." Kakashi didn't answer.

As Anko and Kakashi started a conversation, and Sasuke was clearing the table, Naruto took his chance to quickly empty his bowl, inhaling his food.

"-I like that about you," Anko told Kakashi as she leaned closer to him.

Sasuke came back with desert, and saw Anko almost hugging Kakashi. He pulled a face at the two.

"Oooh, fresh strawberries," Naruto beamed. "From the garden," he smiled; trying to distract himself and Sasuke from Anko and Kakashi.

It seemed to work, as they started eating their desert.

"Ah, it's been such a long time," Anko suddenly said.

"What has?" Naruto asked.

"That we first met."

Sasuke smirked. The chuunin exams.

"Ah, that _has_ been a long time ago," Naruto said.

"Your first chuunin exams," Kakashi said.

"You were all so scared," Anko sniggered.

"Were not," Naruto protested.

"Ow, admit. You were."

"Just by that weird, crazy tongue-"

"Orochimaru?" Anko asked, turning a bit darker.

"I meant yours," Naruto smirked.

"Really?" Anko leaned closer to him, sticking out her tongue.

"Ew, get away from me," Naruto warned her.

"You're still scared of me?" Anko asked as she kept coming closer.

"Why shouldn't I? You're a crazy person."

Anko stopped. "I guess that's true."

"Eh?" She admitted to that?

"Are you planning to subscribe your students to the next chuunin exams?" Kakashi asked, as Anko got real close to Naruto now (who was beginning to panic as he couldn't back away any further; he felt the bookcase against his back).

"I-I think so?" Naruto tried to push Anko away. "Sasuke?" he whispered, pleading for some help.

Sasuke didn't do anything, and Naruto wondered where his protectiveness had gone.

"Sakura didn't let them compete when I wasn't there, and perhaps that's better, but I want them to go for it the next time." He was finally able to effectively shove Anko away. "Anko!" he growled, "Stop it."

"Ahw," she almost whined while she pouted. "At least Kakashi lets me." She moved back to her place on the ground.

"But not here," he told her before she got idea's.

"I know~," she purred to him.

"Bleh."

"Brat."

"Grr."

"You guys," Kakashi sighed. "I would almost think you don't like each other, but I know better." They were just so similar to each other that they had to act like this.

"Yeah, you're right, we like each other," Anko smirked.

Naruto was speechless and shocked.

-x-

"Why didn't you help me?" Naruto was referring to Anko's actions from that evening. He turned to Sasuke as they sat on the bed.

"Not sure."

"But you're always so…" Naruto hugged Sasuke tightly.

"What? Annoying? Interesting? L-"

"All of that, but I wanted to say protective." Naruto moved his arm so he could take Sasuke's right hand, and moved it under his shirt to the scar of his missing arm, and laid it there.

"Hn."

"Hm," Naruto kissed Sasuke on his cheek.

"Doesn't it hurt?" Sasuke asked as his hand still lay on the scar, even though Naruto had retracted his own hand to lay it around Sasuke's neck.

"Nope. Not at all."

Sasuke smiled as he lay back on the bed, pulling Naruto with him.

"Good."

-oXo-

A/N: I just wanted to add that my good beta and I are writing a story together. It's on MS9323's profile, called 'In Finale' (SasuNaru). So... please check it out ^^ and tell us if you like it, or bring some idea's to the table :) I wonder if you can figure out who wrote what ^^ Also, we have a prize if you can guess the meaning behind the title. Here's a small hint: if you type it into google translate, it is not a direct translation, so you will have to think about it. It is a plane term. ^^ Good luck!


	18. Chapter 18: Joined mission

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sensei.

This chapter has been beta-ed by MS3923 :D

-oXo-

**Chapter 18: Joined mission**

_8__th__ of September_

Naruto woke up and turned around onto his back. When he let his arm reach for Sasuke he found nothing, just an empty bed. He looked up and saw Sasuke had already left the bed. He also wasn't in the bathroom.

He sat up and twitched his ears, trying to wake up a bit. He didn't hear Sasuke downstairs either. Had he already left for his mission?

Naruto rubbed his eyes and yawned. He blinked a few times and pulled his shirt down as it had crept up.

Slowly he got out of the bed, leaving the sheets as they were instead of placing them back nicely, like Sasuke had done. He shuffled to the bathroom.

Somewhat later he'd finished his breakfast, and grasped his belt with a big pouch on the back. He didn't like carrying a backpack anymore, as it either slid off from his shoulder very easily or had to hang on his one good shoulder all day.

He took the belt and tried to fasten it, but it was too heavy to stay put, so he couldn't click it close. He tried a few times, even with the help of his tail and it worked, but his tail was stuck between the clip, so he had to open it again.

After some more struggle he just decided to take it with him, and ask one of his genin to put it on. He grumbled a bit about buying a belt with a buckle next time, instead of a clip, before he left the house. On the way to the main gate he tried to think up some plans for how to get his belt on the next time.

He was surprised to see Kenji and Ryomaru were already there, and that the always first to arrive Eri was missing. However, as Ryomaru was helping him with his belt, he saw Eri already coming.

"Sorry I'm late, my mom had a whole speech prepared for me, since this is the first time we go on a mission this far outside the village," she said, a bit red in the face.

"It's okay; you're on time as team 4 is just arriving as well." Naruto thanked Ryomaru for his help and pointed to the right.

"Ohayo," Eri waved to team 4 as they came closer.

"Now all we have to do, is wait for the ANBU that's coming with us," Kazuko said.

"Right, I'd almost forgotten," Naruto said as his ear twitched and he scratched it.

Naoko, Michi and Eri were already talking and Kazuko was almost staring at Naruto, who tried to evade her gaze. So he decided to talk with the guards of the gate, which were Izumo and Koketsu.

However, not long after he'd begun a conversation, the ANBU showed up. Naruto's mouth almost fell open when he saw the man walking to them, in ANBU gear and with a bird mask on.

"Ah, Taka-san, we're ready to go then," Kazuko said and waved to the teams to follow her. So they did, and Naruto stayed a little behind until he walked next to 'Taka'.

"So, Sasuke, was this the reason you were so happy yesterday?" he whispered.

"I wanted to surprise you," Sasuke whispered back from behind his mask.

"You succeeded. Why a bird though?" Naruto pointed to the mask.

"It's a hawk."

"Aha, sure."

"It was given to me; I had nothing to do with it. I swear Tsunade-sama had a snake mask there as well."

"You would have killed her."

"Right then, right there."

"She knew that; she just wanted to tease you." Sasuke 'Hmpf'-ed .

Naruto walked up to his team, and Sasuke jumped into the coverage of the leaves and branches.

Naruto thought over their mission. They had to guard some rich people that had a meeting with some other rich people; to protect them from people that might want to disturb them, and perhaps to maintain order inside.

It wasn't a very complicated mission, but it was a C-ranked mission nonetheless. It was the reason why the two teams had been put together; with two jounin, two chuunin and four genin (plus the addition of an ANBU). So their teams had to be able to work as one, and that was why they had trained together. Plus it didn't hurt to train with some other team once in a while.

As he was thinking about this, Kazuko slowly came closer to him until she 'accidentally' hit his shoulder.

"Oh, sorry."

"Meh, it's okay," Naruto said, not really paying attention to it.

"You know that ANBU? I saw that the two of you were talking," she asked curiously, but trying to sound casual.

"Yeah, we met sometime."

"Ah, that's nice." And with that their conversation ended.

Naruto looked over to Kenji and Kohaku, who were trying to avoid each other. Kohaku was walking with the girls now and Kenji was walking beside Ryomaru, who said something to him every once in a while, trying to start a conversation too, but Kenji didn't seem to be interested.

"I have some friends in the ANBU as well," Kazuko suddenly said as her hand brushed against Naruto's.

"Huh?" Naruto looked to his right.

"But not that it matters."

"I guess not." Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Your tail is really shining today."

"What?" Nobody had ever said something like that to him, and Naruto could actually hear Sasuke choke, somewhere in the trees. "If you say so…" Naruto narrowed his eyes a bit when he looked at her. She was a bit smaller than he was, so he could actually look down at her.

Fortunately for him, Michi gave her sensei a sceptic look, and Kazuko promptly took a step away from Naruto. He was afraid this would be a long journey.

-x-

When night fell they stopped to set up camp. Taka slowly came from the bushes and sat down against a tree. Naruto knew what he actually wanted to do, but was unable to do so with his ANBU gear on. When he saw Taka shuffle uncomfortably on his spot, giving him a glance, Naruto knew he had been right.

"Wow, this blanket is great! You made it yourself?"

Naruto was distracted by Noako's admiring of Eri's self-made blanket.

"Hm," Eri nodded. "It's a quilt. I can make you one as well, if you like."

Naruto glanced to Kazuko, as the two girls kept making squealing sounds. She was not paying them much attention either, she was instead glaring at Taka. Naruto had no idea why, but he had a feeling she knew Taka was more to Naruto then just an acquaintance.

As everyone was now in a good sleeping position, silence fell, and Naruto decided to take first watch. It was just routine to have a watch during the night, for they didn't expect any attacks, but they were still ninja. You never know who wanted you dead.

Naruto was actually quite amazed at Sasuke's restraint of himself when everyone was asleep, to not come over to Naruto. Naruto smiled.

-x-

He woke up because -unlike usually- he wasn't lying on top of someone else, but someone was lying on top of him.

"Sasuke," he mumbled.

"Yes," came the angry reply, but something was wrong. Not the fact that it had sounded angry, but it was coming from the wrong direction. It wasn't coming from above him.

Naruto shot up as he saw Sasuke sitting to his right, looking rather angry, even though he had his mask on.

"What are you doing?" Naruto asked the lavender-haired woman that had been resting on his chest, and was now lying on the ground as Naruto slid away from her.

"Hu-?" Her eyes shot open, "I-I..." Kazuko looked around her, embarrassed, and when she saw Taka looking (more like glaring daggers) at her, she smiled at him with a small blush. "I'm sorry," she said as she turned back to Naruto, who was now standing, "I did it while I was asleep, I can't help it."

"Did what in your sleep, kiss Naruto-sensei?" Michi asked as the rest of the genin had woken up as well, and were now looking up from their sleeping places, some rubbing their eyes sleepily.

"No! Of course not," she answered, becoming completely red.

"You should stop reading those books, sensei. I told you so before," Naoko said.

"What books?" Eri asked.

"Those orange and gre-"

Ryomaru gasped.

"Enough." Everyone looked up to Naruto, as he looked anywhere but Kazuko or Taka. "Now that everyone is awake, we can better get going." He grasped his pouch and walked away with it, unable to tie it around his waist.

"W-wait, sensei!" Ryomaru hastily grasped his stuff together like the rest and followed their sensei.

Sometime later Naruto was walking at the side of their group beside Ryomaru, when he heard Sasuke's voice from the forestry.

"Why?" he simply asked.

Naruto turned to the bushes. 'Why what?' he knew Sasuke would read his lips, so he only moved his mouth without making a sound.

"Why don't you stop her?"

Naruto had to think this over for some time before he understood what Sasuke was talking about.

'It's not like I _let_ her do things like that.'

"Do I need to stop her?"

Naruto sighed; possessive Sasuke was back. 'No, I can handle this myself. It's just I'm not used to be in a situation like this.' Naruto had never had a woman that liked him before, except for Hinata, and he had not known that for a very long time. Besides that, he had only had Sasuke. However, this woman made very clear that she liked him, not even Naruto could deny that. He had no idea how to politely shake her off though.

"So you _did_ notice her flirting?"

Naruto pursed his lips. 'I'm not _that_ blind.'

"Hn."

'You have experience with woman and girls loving you. I don't.'

"It's not so hard to shake them off," Sasuke commented dryly.

'Yeah I noticed, since you have no fan girls at all anymore,' Naruto gave him a sarcastic look. He heard Sasuke huff, probably trying to deny the fact that he had (a lot of) fan girls. 'I think I should just tell you straight, that your way of ignoring them isn't really working. In fact I think it only makes it worse.'

Sasuke was awfully quiet, and Naruto smirked. He liked how the roles had turned.

"I have no trouble shaking them off at all," Sasuke finally said.

'Not when you're scaring them away. Was that your plan for Kazuko-sempai as well? You know we still have a mission to complete?'

"I can still do it."

Naruto snorted. 'Not necessary; I can handle this myself.'

"Are you all right, sensei?"

Naruto looked down to his left where Ryomaru gave him a slightly concerned look.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Naruto gave him a smile.

"O-okay." Ryomaru looked down to his feet, fingering his khaki pants and carefully smiled.

-0-0-0-

Uma had just given her the report of her findings. Things didn't seem to be going as she had hoped. She was afraid that what the letter said was true.

Tsunade opened a drawer and got out the letter to read it again. It wasn't a very long letter, but what it said was enough to make her angry every time she read it.

'_I obtained this treasure once, I will do it again; one way or the other.'_

Disgusting, like he was talking about him as if he was an object. He thought he was so great, and that he could threaten them? He was so wrong about that, but she needed to be sure that the letter had really come from him, before she could arrange a team to be sent, or even plan an attack. She didn't want to start an unnecessary war.

"Hokage-sama, shall I proceed my search?"

Tsunade looked up to the painted, horse-masked woman in front of her. Her short brown hair gave the idea of a horse's manes, making the image complete.

"Please do, and try to hurry up."

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade let her head rest in her hands as the ANBU disappeared from her office.

_If this letter is authentic, I'm going to kill that Treasure Hunter with my bare hands!_

* * *

><p>Two days later they arrived at the large castle like building where their mission would begin. Naruto still hadn't told Kazuko off, and Sasuke was slowly getting <em>really<em> pissed about the situation, as she kept flirting with Naruto in every possible way. Naruto had noticed Sasuke's state, even though the Uchiha didn't let it show in any way to the outside world.

Naruto still had no idea how to break the news to Kazuko, and had decided to wait for either a perfect moment or when they would return home. He just couldn't help this image of a crying woman, who was clinging to him, while their mission was going awry.

"Or he's been cursed?" Eri asked as she looked up to Naruto's ears. Michi, Naoko and Ryomaru looked up at him as well.

They had just taken in every detail of the surroundings, and had made a few strategies to protect it. Now they were back inside and enjoying some rest, before the nobles would arrive. Somehow the subject of their conversation had turned onto Naruto and his fox-features.

Taka was sitting very silently in a dark corner, listening. Kazuko seemed interested as well, but kept quiet too. Kohaku and Kenji were staring at each other again.

"No," Naruto told her, and Eri's shoulders slumped a bit.

"You were bitten by a demonic rabid fox?" Naoko asked, her voice rising with every word.

Naruto laughed. "No."

"Damn."

"Oh, I know something," Michi said. Eyes turned to her. "A long time ago there was this beautiful fox lady, living in her foxy land; a foxy kingdom."

"Foxy kingdom? You mean a fox kingdom?" Eri asked.

"No, no; foxy kingdom," Michi said. Eri raised her eyebrows. "This lovely fox lady was not just a lady, she was a princess-"

Suddenly Kohaku began laughing out loud. "A fox princess? Come on Michi-chan! What are you, five?"

"Be quiet, I'm not finished yet."

Kohaku kept laughing, but more quietly so Michi could proceed her story… fairy tale.

"And then a handsome young man-"

Naruto was actually quite surprised by what Michi was just making up. It almost sounded like she hoped something like that had happened, but Naruto knew her better than that; she wasn't such a kind of girl. Especially when he saw Michi look over to Naoko, who held her hands folded to her chest and staring into nothing with a dreamy look, then he knew she was just faking.

Michi was a really good story teller, almost convincing even Naruto himself that what she was telling was true. She could have, if the story had been somewhat more believable.

"And then they disappeared into thin air, only to leave the small fox-boy behind," Michi ended.

"How romantic," Naoko said, "And so sad." She turned to Naruto and swept a tear away. "I feel so sorry for you, Naruto-sensei."

Michi and Eri stared at her. "She actually believed that?" Eri asked. Michi smirked.

"To be left alone like that," Naoko went on.

"It's not true, Naoko-chan," Kohaku said.

"Says who?"

"I do," Naruto said.

"Oh…" Naoko's hands fell down into her lap.

"I got one!" Eri said excited. "You fell down in some kettle filled with-"

"No."

"You went to an evil doctor that stitched a tail to your butt and ears to your head," Michi said. "Show the stitches!"

"No," Naruto grinned.

"A jutsu went wrong."

"You already said that one. No."

"A fox bite?"

"No."

"A disease?"

"No."

"Genetic disease?"

"A disease includes all diseases," Kenji said, but nobody seemed to hear him.

"No."

"Family trait?"

"Ha… no." Naruto pictured his parents with fox ears and a tail, and grinned. Well, he _had_ mistaken his mother to be-

"Then you really were a fox once that turned human, like Akira-kun said?" Eri asked, though not really believing it herself, pulling Naruto out of his thoughts.

"No." Naruto looked to Eri. "He said that?" Eri nodded. "I can't believe he still thinks that."

"Oh, I know!" Michi suddenly said very loud. Naruto actually had to flatten his ears for a second. "This must be it!"

Eri looked hopefully to Michi. Had she finally found the solution?

"You merged with a fox."

Naruto was silent for a moment. He _had_ partly merged with a fox…

"Merged with a fox?" Eri asked.

"Yes, my mom told me once she had been walking around in the forest, and had then seen a woman merge with a snake."

Eri eyed her unbelievingly. Michi's parents were no ninja's. "And you believed her?"

"No, of course not, but right now…" she looked over to Naruto, who was still looking surprised at her explanation. "That might have really happened, can't it?" she asked as she looked to Naruto with and intend look. "Man and animal can merge like that out of nowhere." She was still watching him, waiting for him to confirm this.

"Of course not," Naruto said. "Not out of nowhere."

"They can," Michi tried once more.

"Go measure my tail," Naruto said laughing, not believing she really believed what her mother had told her.

"60 centimetres."

"Eh?" Naruto and the rest turned to Kazuko.

"I mean, I think it's about 60 centimetres," she said blushing.

Naruto blinked. "What?"

"You _think_?" Naoko asked.

"Or you _know_?" Michi finished.

"When did you measure my tail?" Naruto asked undignified as his tail curled up around his waist, completely forgetting their other conversation.

"I-I… I didn't," she said, though not sounding very convincing.

"Sensei, oh sensei~," Michi said, giggling and shaking her head. "Don't tell me _that_ was what you were doing last night?"

"I wasn't!"

"You weren't trying to kiss him for real, were you?" she asked next.

Silence fell and Naruto felt very uncomfortable. He knew he was a sound sleeper, but…

"Oh my God, Sensei!" Kohaku almost shouted.

"Ew, what are you for a sensei?" Michi asked.

"I cannot believe this," Naoko said as she shook her head.

Team 9 was just staring very silently, looking from Kazuko to their own sensei. Taka seemed to be radiating evil vibes to Kazuko (beyond evil perhaps).

This was getting too out of hand. This was the point Naruto could no longer say he would wait telling her. _This_ was the moment to tell.

"Kazuko-sempai," Naruto growled, and she actually shrunk a little. "Please come with me." Naruto pointed to the door, and led the way to another room. When the door closed, silence fell.

"Ooh, that can't be good," Michi said as both senseis had left the room, and Naoko hit her head. "Did you see the look on her face?" Michi asked, rubbing the back of her head.

"I hope he hits her hard enough that she will stop reading those books," Kohaku said.

"Is she always like that?" Eri asked.

"Not this bad." Michi crossed her arms and closed her eyes. "But with Naruto-sensei around she really does things I've never seen her do-" Suddenly she stopped, and she slowly turned her head to the far corner. The rest felt it too. The ANBU wasn't happy.

"Ahum…" Michi nervously cleared her throat in a fake way. "Let's talk about something else. Like how Kenji cried when he thought he'd forgotten his lucky boxers."

"I did not!"

-x-

Naruto entered the empty room, walked to the middle and turned around, facing Kazuko.

Kazuko looked around at the old Japanese styled room, and slid the door close behind her.

"Why did you do that?" Naruto had tried to start with a different question, but his mind seemed a bit empty at the moment. This was all that he could come up with right now. He wasn't sure if it was because of his anger or because the subject was a bit too embarrassing (to him).

"Did what?" Kazuko asked.

"Why did you do that?" Naruto asked again. She knew what he meant.

They stared at each other for a while. Then Kazuko opened her mouth.

"I thought it was kind of obvious." She said softly, but Naruto didn't answer. "I thought you would have noticed by now."

"Of course I have. It's hard to miss that you…" Naruto looked around.

"That I like you."

Silence fell.

This was not how Naruto had planned things. He had wanted to wait, because he didn't want to hurt her too much. He also didn't want to be in an awkward position while being around each other during the mission, but things had led to this. By prolonging the moment to tell her, he was making things only worse. She was beginning to like him more and more, and he had not once told her he didn't like her or wasn't interested. So she hadn't stopped her actions; he'd possibly only encouraged her to keep going.

"You never said so," Naruto almost mumbled.

"I didn't think I needed to."

"But…" Naruto took a deep breath, this was awkward. He looked around before focussing on the lavender-haired kunoichi. "Kazuko-sempai," Naruto started.

"Please call me Kazuko."

Naruto looked at her. She was over 10 years older than him. Not that he would have thought that; she looked younger. "I-I'm sorry, but I can't." Kazuko looked questioningly at him and Naruto bit his lip.

"I'm already with someone," he finally just said.

"Oh," Kazuko said, sounding very disappointed.

Naruto didn't say anything, and Kazuko started to look down to the thickly with dust covered floor.

"Is it your teammate, that Haruno woman?"

"Eh?" Naruto looked up to Kazuko as she stared at him. "No, not with her; not even a 'her'."

"You mean she's a witch? Is she that evil?" Kazuko remembered one time being witness of an outburst of Sakura.

Kazuko had misunderstood Naruto. "No, no, not at all… well sometimes…" Naruto shook his head. "I mean, I'm not with a woman."

Kazuko was silent again and looking into Naruto's eyes. "You're with an it?" She asked confused, suddenly imagined a beautiful fox lady from Michi's story.

"Eh?" Naruto was confused as well. "No. When I said I'm not with a her, it means I'm with a him."

"A him?" Kazuko asked unbelievingly.

"A him," Naruto repeated.

"You mean, a man?"

"Yes, a man."

"Not a woman?"

Naruto didn't respond. _Of course not a woman. A man is a man!_

"A-a man," she said again, as if trying to understand what that meant.

"A him, a man, a boy, a dude, a guy, a male, someone from the opposite sex (to you that is). They are all the same."

"I know," she said slowly. "You're gay?"

Naruto sighed. "I told you I'm with a man…"

"You're dating a man?"

Naruto started to get irritated. "No, not dating. We've already been together for over 3½ years; living together for about 2 years."

"I can't believe it. I just…" she looked up to Naruto again. "You don't like woman? At all?"

"Eh?"

"Have you ever been with a woman before?"

"Eh?" Naruto didn't know how the conversation could turn out like this.

"You haven't, have you?" She took a step forward.

"No," Naruto said, blushing slightly as Kazuko was staring intently at him.

"You have never been to bed with a woman before?"

"Eh?" It seemed all he could say.

Kazuko took a step back from him, and turned her eyes to Naruto's chest. "Who's he?"

"S-sa… Uchiha Sasuke." Naruto answered.

"Oh…," more awkward silence, "Him."

"Yeah…" Naruto looked around at the walls, ready for some distraction.

"Doesn't he have a child?"

"Eh? He has."

"How's that possible?" Kazuko again took a step closer to Naruto, and Naruto took a step back.

"I think I don't have to explain that to you."

"I mean, if he is with you… did he cheat on you?"

"No! He already had the kid before we got together."

"So he already did it with a woman, even had a kid, and then went to live with yo-"

"No, it's more complicated. He didn't know about the boy."

"So he was just having fun with woman all around, not knowing he had produced offspring-?"

"It's not like that!" Naruto yelled, and Kazuko took a few steps back when she saw his red eyes and oval pupils. His canines had lengthened as well. "He hadn't done it with her voluntary… I think… but that doesn't matter!" Naruto closed his eyes and tried to calm down.

Kazuko noticed so, but she wasn't finished yet. "So he had a… a 'dealing' with a woman, and he knew he didn't like it, so he chose to like men instead. At least he based his sexual interest on something, but you've never been with a woman before. How do you know you don't like them? Did he force you to like him?"

"Stop it!" Naruto sounded really angry now and growled. His nails had grown and the whisker marks on his cheeks where thicker. He hadn't been angry like this for a very long time. "You can't tell me I don't like him. It's my decision; Sasuke had nothing to do with it. I choose for him all by myself, nobody made me. Perhaps I've never been with a woman before, but I don't need that to know that he means everything to me!"

Kazuko looked a bit taken aback by Naruto's outburst. She really liked him, so she had tried to persuade him (perhaps not in a most honest way) to maybe change his mind, but she had not expected this to happen. He looked frightening, even though the whisker marks were returning to normal as well as his nails.

"But does he like you as well? Does he say he loves you every day?" she asked softly, trying once more.

"Of course not," Naruto answered, still looking angry. "We don't skip around telling how much we love each other every day. We're men, we don't do that. And I don't need him to say it. I know so."

Naruto took a few breaths and his eyes turned blue again, though the pupils were still cat-like. "Sasuke means the world to me. He's there for me when I need him; he's helped me through a lot already. I didn't like it that he lied to me or when he suddenly had a son, but I don't care anymore, I've dealt with it. We talked about it and it's in the past.

I really like Akira-kun and he's family to me. I don't care how he came to existence, he's a good boy and he can't help it. He has nothing to do with it." Naruto clenched his fists.

"I love Sasuke and I know how he feels about Akira-kun. He regrets it, having a son, even just a little bit; though he never said it to me." Naruto looked up to her. "But he's wrong. He's done something good. He has a son that he loves and that he takes care of after his mother died. He's good for him, and Akira-kun will grow into a fine man one day. And I'll be there together with Sasuke to see him grow up. I would never leave Sasuke over something like that." Naruto unclenched his fists.

"I love him with whole my heart. I don't need to know what it's like with others for comparison. Sasuke is all I need." Naruto looked at Kazuko.

Kazuko was speechless. She hadn't known he felt this much for the Uchiha. It was so deep and… she was a bit jealous.

"I'm sorry," she said softy. "I shouldn't have said those things… It was-"

"It's okay; I got carried away myself." Naruto bit his lip, which almost caused a split lip because of his still long canines. "I should have told you sooner that I wasn't interested."

"I-I just thought you liked me as well… perhaps. I really liked our conversations."

"You're flirting sucked though."

Kazuko smiled. "I know," she grinned.

Silence again, but this time everything had been said and Kazuko turned around, slowly walking away. After she closed the door a tear rolled down her cheek, and she stubbornly wiped it away. She really liked Naruto, still did, but she knew now that she would never be able to persuade him to love her. No one would; Sasuke had already done that.

Slowly she retreated to her own room.

Naruto walked back until he hit the wall, and slid down. He'd never said all those things to anyone, not even Sasuke. Not like this. He closed his eyes.

After a while the door slowly slid open, and soft footsteps came closer to him.

"You okay?"

Naruto looked up, seeing Sasuke hunching in front of him, his mask removed.

"Sure." Naruto fingered Sasuke's mask as he held it in his hands. "You sure you can take it off?"

Sasuke didn't answer.

"You really meant what you said?"

"I do." Naruto knew Sasuke had heard almost half of their conversation. "And you know it."

Sasuke smirked. "I love you."

Naruto smiled and punched Sasuke, who almost lost his balance. "Haha," he laughed softly. "You don't need to tell me. I know."

"Still." Sasuke tilted his head slightly.

"Yeah, I love you too." Naruto gripped Sasuke's mask and held it in front of the raven's face, so he could put it on again.

They sat there for a while longer, not really doing anything, just taking advantage of their time alone. Naruto was studying Sasuke's mask, every line that was painted on it.

Suddenly Sasuke moved his hand and touched Naruto's teeth. "They're long."

"Ah, I think I went a bit overboard."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke had just thought he needed meat again.

"I think I went a bit Kyuubi…"

"Then you really were angry."

"Like you hadn't noticed yet."

Sasuke smirked. He'd felt how Naruto's chakra had turned slightly more evil, adding a bit more red to the orange. "So you cannot undo it?" he asked.

"Apparently not."

"Hm."

"Yeah, yeah, I understand." Naruto stood up, as did Sasuke. "I'll find something to eat."

Sasuke smirked. He didn't need saying more.

-x-

Eri walked around on the steep cliff of grey rock, a green bush once in a while, and more grey rock. Oh, and she noticed some more grey rock to her other side.

_Who would want to build a mansion here?_ Eri wondered as she looked up to the house, now turned 90 degrees because she was hanging horizontal.

The mansion where the noblemen would meet hung on a cliff above the sea. The ocean water was roughly smashing onto the cliff several hundreds of meters below her. Pointy cliffs in the water made no one want to take a dive.

Of course this location provided a wonderful view over the sea, and was harder to attack than a house on land, but still; the grey stone was boring.

She turned around and looked up, to above the mansion that was build with the same grey stone as the cliff, where noblemen were slowly descending in a simple wooden elevator, as it was the only transportation down to the house. For those who couldn't use chakra to walk on walls that is. Kazuko and the ANBU were taking care of the elevator.

To her left Ryomaru was hunching, looking to a window of the 'hanging house'. "You like it?"

Ryomaru turned to face Eri and nodded. "It's very i-interesting." He pointed to the window he had been looking at. "It has a wooden frame, t-the window, even though w-wood is not very durable in a sea climate."

"Of course," Eri said, though she had not known that.

"T-the window frames must be taken c-care of very well, painted, and are changed every now and then, since t-they look as new."

Eri nodded and saw what he meant.

"Who cares about wood." Kenji stepped forward, emerging from behind a bush below them. "Everything is okay on the other side," he told them and hunched down like Ryomaru, facing up the cliff.

"Good," Eri said.

After fifteen minutes she started walking to the bush where Kenji had come from, and disappeared into it. She hunched and crawled through some other bushes until she met with the second team, underneath the building.

Michi and Kohaku turned to look at her. "Everything all right?" she asked.

They nodded.

"A bit bored though," Kohaku said.

"And you haven't been to the even more boring stone expanse yet," Eri joked.

"I know."

"How long before all the smelly rich are inside?" Michi asked.

"Couple more hours," Kohaku said monotonously.

"They smell?" Eri asked.

"Don't they all?" Michi replied.

"You've got something against rich people?" Eri asked curiously.

"Don't we all?"

Eri smiled. "I guess."

Kohaku frowned to Michi. "Aren't your parents rich too?"

"They are," Michi said with a bored voice.

"And they smell too?" He asked, though he wasn't sounding surprised, more amused.

"Of course. You've been to my house. Didn't you smell all that filthy money?"

Kohaku chuckled. "I guess I did, now that I think back."

"You see."

"You don't like your parents?" Eri asked.

"Oh, they're alright, I just don't care that much about them. They always wanted me to go to some fancy school, do fancy stuff and wear fancy clothes. I just wanted to be a kunoichi. Luckily my brother is just the way they want him to be, so I was excused to do whatever I wanted, after I nagged their ears off." Michi grinned. "That was fun."

"You don't like to be with family then?"

"Nah, most of them are boring; except for uncle Koharu. He's funny," Michi smiled.

"He is," Kohaku said as he remembered the uncle. He stood up. "I'll go for the next team, see you later." He took off through the bushes.

"I would like to have some more relatives," Eri said.

"Trust me, fourteen uncles and aunts are way too many to have. Especially when they have so many offspring… And the grandparents... bleh." Michi made a face.

_The_ grandparents? The? Eri shook her head slightly, pretending to get rid of one of her long, brown braids. "I would like to have grandparents. All I got is my mom and my aunt."

"They must be very nice," Michi said.

"They are. But… they're not home very often. They're both shinobi as well."

"Cool, shinobi in the family. I would like to meet them."

"Sure. You're always welcome."

"And it's really enjoyable too there." Blond hair emerged from the green surrounding the two as Naruto hunched next to them, smiling.

"Ooh, that makes me even more excited." Eri smiled when she saw Michi clapped her hands. "Do you play games after dinner?"

"Sometimes," Eri answered.

"I envy you."

"Your house isn't that bad?" Eri asked.

Michi grinned. "Of course not, I really love my parents. They're just so… fancy. I don't like fancy, and most of my relatives are so stuck up."

"How did you ever end up with Kenji-kun then?" Eri giggled.

"Ow, shut up. That was a mistake," she grumbled whilst Eri kept giggling.

"That's for sure."

"Really?" Naruto asked, eying Eri and she blushed a bit.

"It is."

"It is," Michi agreed.

Naruto just kept smiling.

"Ah well. Need to get to team East." Michi stood up and went into the direction Eri had come from.

"Say 'hi' to mister stuck up."

"Haha," Michi said sarcastically.

Silence fell and Eri peered through their cover off leaves, but saw nothing interesting.

"Why are we sitting below the mansion anyway?" she asked Naruto.

"Enemies won't expect it, part of the tactics and plan."

"Ah."

Naruto sat still on the ground, his tail sweeping back and forth. His ears moved as well every now and then. Eri was reminded of some clocks, though those cat clocks moved their tail and eyes, not their ears.

"Sensei?"

"Eri-chan?" Naruto turned around so he faced her.

Eri bit her lip and turned around to face her sensei. "You really liked it back at my place?"

Naruto had been invited to come over by Eri's mother, so she could meet the teacher of her daughter. Since then Naruto had come to visit a couple of other times (mostly when Sasuke had been on a mission). He liked it at their house, it was cosy, and her mother and aunt were nice people.

"Of course, you have a nice house and family."

Eri smiled sadly and turned away slightly. "I wish you could have met my dad."

"You miss him?" Naruto asked. He didn't know much about him.

"Well, I don't really remember him. He died on the battlefield when I was three." Eri shifted a bit. "But mom always tells stories about him, how they met."

"That's nice," Naruto said softly. "I'm sure it would have been great to have met him."

Eri smiled. "Thanks sensei."

* * *

><p>"How long do these smelly men have to discuss their important business?" Michi asked while she had breakfast along with Kazuko and Ryomaru.<p>

"Yesterday was the gathering, today is their meeting and tomorrow they will go home again. It's a rather short meeting, but still," Kazuko answered.

"Yes, yes, they are important people. They can get attacked."

"That's why we have different breakfast times for each team."

Ryomaru silently listened to his two temporary 'teammates' while he finished his tea.

"At least we're lucky to be the last team. I'm not really a morning person, so I'm glad we had the late night and late wake up shift."

"Yes, I agree."

"Ha, Naruto-sensei and Kenji had to get up so early." Eri, Kohaku and Naoko made the other team. "I haven't seen Taka at all after he finished bringing those stinkers in."

"Michi, mind your language, they're still our clients," Kazuko warned her, sipping her own tea.

"But did he sleep at all? Or are ANBU not supposed to sleep?"

"He probably had some small breaks, instead of one long break. I don't think he would go inside for that, and just slept in a tree-"

"Which are rare in this environment with the exception of up above."

"Then a bush, who knows, I haven't gone looking for him. Besides he's supposed to be unnoticeable. That only means he's done a good job so far."

"Hai, hai."

Kazuko gave Michi a look at the way she answered.

"I-I think it's time we get going," Ryomaru said quietly as he watched Michi, who still had her tea cup full.

"Just a sec," Michi said, as she hurriedly gulped her tea and put the last piece of bread in her mouth. "Bweady."

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Kazuko gave Michi a soft slap on the head. "We're in company of richer-"

"My family is certainly not poor."

"I know, but you've got a job to do."

Ryomaru shook his head as the sensei and her student kept bickering until they got to the door leading outside, and got to ninja-mode.

-o-o-o-

Kenji yawned as he looked around from behind his cover, a big grey rock.

"Don't start yawning, or I'll do too," Naruto said as he sat beside Kenji.

"But we were up so early, and I didn't sleep very well and-" suddenly Kenji stopped. Naruto's eyebrows had already risen up, because he actually had heard Kenji whine about being up so early.

Kenji gave Naruto an angry look as if saying 'if you say one word about it-'.

"Yare, yare, Kenji," was all Naruto said, and he turned his head away as a big smile appeared on his face. He sniggered and heard Kenji grumble when he did so.

"Well, I know this might be a bit boring, but it's better than being attacked."

Kenji huffed. "I would rather see some action," he grumbled.

"Hm, be careful what you wish for. Cheer up, Kenji."

"Hn."

"Are you trying to sound like Sasuke?"

-o-o-o-

"I think I heard something," Naoko said and she pointed to a bush a little further from their own bush they were hiding behind.

Eri hunched down beside her, and looked over to the bush as well, while Kohaku kept looking the other way. After a couple of minutes they still didn't see anything.

"Aw, please let something happen, just a bird is fine for me," Naoko said as she pouted.

"Well, better than a fight, right?" Eri said as she moved back a little to get her weight on her other leg.

"That's the officially correct answer, but…"

"Yeah, I know," Eri agreed.

"There it is again," Naoko suddenly said, straightening up somewhat, as far as her hunched form would let her.

"I heard it too." Eri perked up as well.

Both girls watched the bush intently. It rustled a bit and then…

A small sparrow flew out of the bush with a beetle in its beak.

"Oh." Naoko sighed.

"Like you didn't already know," Kohaku said.

-x-

"We're about to change teams soon, aren't we?" Eri asked as she took a peek at the sun's position.

"Yeah, in about ten minutes."

"Not that I don't like sitting with you guys."

"Don't worry, Eri-chan, we feel the same," Kohaku said. "Just hope I'm not in a new team with my annoying little brother. If he only had a little more sense of humour… well, any sense of humour."

"Would make things more pleasant," Eri agreed.

"Oh, he can't be that bad. He looks kinda cute." Kohaku and Eri stared at Naoko. "What?" she asked innocently.

"Otouto is not cute." Eri agreed with Kohaku by shaking her head. "He's really not all that bad, because I mostly tease him," Kohaku grinned, "but when he gets angry…" he sighed. "That's just annoying."

"What does he do then?" Eri asked curiously. "You go body switching each other?"

"Of course not," Kohaku said. "Well, I don't, but Kenji tries."

Naoko and Eri giggled.

"Does Kenji-kun ever say anything about Kohaku?" Naoko asked Eri.

"Not much, he doesn't tell us a lot. Not that I care."

"No, he doesn't seem like such a type." Naoko thought she knew what Eri meant.

"Is he like that to your parents as well?" Eri asked.

"Ah, well, okaa-san really can be quite annoying, so I can't really say, but otou-san… Kenji is really close to him. They always have been." Kohaku shrugged.

"Really?" Eri smirked.

"Don't tell him I told you that."

"I promise I won't," Eri said. She raised her hand like she was taking a vow, and grinned as she looked Kohaku in his eyes, the same yellow colour as Kenji's, though somewhat gentler.

"Enough talking about Kenji, we need to go."

-x-

Kenji sneezed.

"Bless you. Must be quite the conversation, this was the second time," Naruto joked.

Kenji acted like he had never sneezed.

"Or are you getting ill?"

"Hmpf." Kenji landed on the meeting spot, where the rest was, except for Kohaku, Eri and Naoko.

"Kenji-kun and Michi-"

"No," Michi protested immediately. Kazuko gave her a stern look and was about to lecture het student.

Naruto, however, interrupted her. "Let's divide in two teams; I don't think we need to have three groups anymore. Taka… _san,_" he quickly added, "is scouting above, and we don't need a team below," Naruto suggested.

Kazuko thought this over for a moment. "Yes, I agree. With a team of four, two can watch up, and two down, or everyone one direction."

Eri, Kohaku and Naoko arrived.

"Come, team 4, we take West." Kazuko disappeared, her students following her.

"Well, we head East then."

-x-

Naruto hunched down beside Sasuke on the cliff, as Sasuke was hiding in a bush that was more like a small tree.

"Don't kill me," Naruto whispered in his ear.

Sasuke looked around a bit startled, not having heard Naruto approach since he was so fast. Naruto grinned back as he saw Sasuke jerk slightly. To any other person the reaction would have been more noticeable, but this was Sasuke. Plus he knew Naruto too well.

"Hm," Sasuke responded.

"And what do you think of your first ANBU mission?" Naruto tried to look into his eyes.

"Fine I guess."

Naruto saw he was not over the Kazuko-thing yet, even though Naruto had finally solved things between her. So he decided to take Sasuke's mind off of it. "Can't you take off your mask for a minute?" Naruto pouted as he moved closer to Sasuke.

"We're on a mission."

Naruto grinned at Sasuke's dedication to his mission. Instead he turned to look around like Sasuke was doing. From his spot he had a perfect view inside the building, directly to the room filled with the noblemen, who were still discussing whatever they thought was worth discussing.

"Shouldn't you be at the East side?" Sasuke asked, having followed all Naruto's movements, and that of the others.

"Aa, but I'm here just for a minute. Plus I'm still-" he stopped and his ears moved around.

Sasuke looked up to his ears. "What do you hear?"

"Some approaching ninjas; above on the East side." He had just finished his sentence, and he was already gone. Sasuke sighed, Naruto was so damn fast.

Naruto arrived to the West side and came to a stop next to Kazuko, who was shocked at his sudden appearance, jumping away from him.

"Naruto-san?" she whispered, when she'd seen it was him.

"Ninja approaching, East; be prepared," was all he said, pointing into the direction he had heard them, and quickly went back to his own side.

"Defensive position, team; we got company from above," Naruto told his team as he nodded to the direction he heard two ninja's move.

"Finally," Kenji mumbled.

Ryomaru looked a bit uncomfortable as he took his position in front of Kenji. Naruto and Eri stood before them a bit fanned out, a kunai at the ready.

Naruto would have liked to make a clone. He shook the thought out of his head, thinking the ninja were probably chuunin, as they weren't as stealthy as a jounin.

A man jumped from some bushes, towards team 9. He wore some animal pelts and chains, looking more like a wild man than like a ninja. His hitai-ate had a symbol of some small country.

Naruto didn't do anything; he knew his team could handle the guy. And so they did.

Eri ran to the ninja, pulling out her wakizachi after throwing the kunai in his direction. The ninja took out a katana of his own and deflected Eri's smaller blade, but Eri had two of those.

Another ninja appeared beside Eri, but Naruto kicked him away. They didn't need handling two ninja's. He wanted them to get some confidence, as they together would defeat this ninja with the tactics Shikamaru, Ino and Chouji had thought them.

Naruto kept the smaller ninja, who was also covered in chains, and seemed to like to work with poisoned kunai and claw-like things on chains, away from his team.

"Eri-chan, don't touch his blade, it's poisoned!" Ryomaru told her, and Kenji threw some shuuriken to get the ninja in a better position.

Ryomaru made a movement to his right, and the ninja fighting Eri pushed her off, wanting to go for Ryomaru next. However, in those few seconds he was free and open, Kenji took his chance and used his mind-body switch technique, while Ryomaru moved back to Kenji. He had made a fake movement to lure the ninja.

Kenji fell on his knees, Ryomaru caught him, and Eri stood in front of them as they waited to see if Kenji's jutsu had worked.

"Did it work?" Eri asked.

"It did, tie him up," Kenji said with the voice that came from the ninja, sounding somewhat rough and husky. Eri jumped forward and began tying up the ninja as he cooperated with her.

"We actually did it," Eri smiled.

Ryomaru turned his attention to his sensei just as Naruto deflected a kunai while the small ninja was fighting him hand to hand, having the advantage of having two hands; not that Naruto couldn't handle things.

He curled his tail around the wrist of the ninja, who looked up surprised, and was finally able to kick the ninja very hard in his stomach, making him disappear in some bushes.

"You okay?" Naruto asked his team, but saw they were fine. "Never mind."

Two ninja jumped out of the bush where one had disappeared. Neither looked like the small one. They were covered in chains as well, and looked almost the same except for the colour of their shirts; one blue, one green. Twins.

Naruto heard that on the West side there was a battle going on as well, but he quickly turned back to the twins.

"Ryomaru, Kenji, you ready?" Naruto asked as he dodged a katana from the blue one, grazing it with his quickly made Rasengan, and punched the green one on the nose. Blood splattered around as the ninja screamed, grasping his broken nose.

"That's not all," Naruto said as he kicked him in the stomach next.

Meanwhile Kenji had returned to his body and was trying to stand up, wobbling a bit at the after-effect of the jutsu. The blue coloured ninja saw his chance of taking down three genin.

Ryomaru stood shaking a bit, but when he saw Eri was still making the last knots on the tied up ninja and Kenji trying to stand up, he knew it all came to him for the moment.

He let his left hand disappear into his weapons pouch, and as soon as he got out some poisoned senbon, he threw them. His accuracy wasn't perfect yet, but with throwing so many at least one might hit the target, and that would be enough.

The blue ninja deflected the senbon with his katana, which now appeared to have a crack in it from the Rasengan.

"Hahaha, you won't get me that easily, my kenjutsu is way better than that of the others!"

"Asshole, think you're so great," Kenji grumbled and threw some shuuriken and kunai, not daring to get near the ninja just yet.

Ryomaru immediately ran forward when Kenji threw his weapons, so he might have a chance against the ninja.

Again the ninja deflected the kunai and shuuriken, and jumped over Ryomaru as Kenji seemed an easier target at the moment.

Ryomaru watched him jump as if in slow motion, and immediately rotated around, but was unable to move as fast as the chuunin ninja.

The ninja lashed out to Kenji, who deflected the katana with a kunai, but the kunai wasn't strong enough, it was breaking. Eri jumped to Kenji and lashed out with her twin blades, effectively cutting the ninja's cheek, but receiving a hard kick in the stomach in return. She let one of her blades drop as she was pushed away, doubling over. The wakizachi stayed lying on a rock.

Kenji's eyes flared and he took out some more kunai, trying to stab the ninja or otherwise using them to deflect the katana.

Ryomaru pulled out some shuuriken, and began throwing them to the ninja's back, but they bounced off. He was wearing some sort of armour or something under his shirt.

However, the deflecting of the shuuriken did make the ninja turn his face around for a moment, and Kenji saw his chance to get Eri's dropped blade, because his own kunai kept breaking when they came into contact with the katana.

Ryomaru saw what Kenji was planning and wanted to join him, but wasn't sure what to do next. His legs were still shaking. He didn't want to fight anymore, he was a medic ninja.

Suddenly he realized he could help Eri. He looked over to her, seeing she was still doubled over and was coughing up some blood. The kick she had received had done more damage than it had looked like at first instance.

He wanted to run in her direction, taking out some more shuuriken to throw at the ninja, when he saw Kenji look at him; yellow met black.

"I'll handle this one myself!" Kenji yelled to Ryomaru, and he stopped in his tracks.

_What?_ Ryomaru stiffened up at the words.

"You think you can 'handle me?'" The blue twin pulled back his katana to swing it again at Kenji, but this time chakra seemed to glow around it.

"The blade won't hold!" Eri yelled as she coughed again. Her ribs hurt and breathing was difficult.

Kenji, however, looked determined as he swung the wakizachi towards the ninja.

Ryomaru bit his lip as he saw what happened. Why was Kenji continuing his attach, while Eri had warned him? He wanted to close his eyes as he saw the blades coming closer to each other. He was afraid of what would happen to Kenji.

Naruto quickly jumped in front of Kenji to deflect the sword, making it hit him on his left side.

With the force it hit him and with already a tear in it, the katana broke in two as it hit Naruto's dense ribs. All the damage it had caused Naruto was a shallow cut.

The broken piece ricocheted away.

Just at that moment another ninja with chains around his body came running around the mansion, followed by Michi and Kohaku. He almost accidentally caught the broken piece of the sword in his gloved hands, and smirked at his new catch. He immediately threw it directly to Eri, who was closest to him, and was still wounded.

Naruto turned around to look where it was headed, but got a fist on his fresh cut instead. He winced and saw how the piece of the sword came closer to Eri. He wouldn't get there in time, not this time.

Blood splashed and a scream sounded.

"Eri-chan!"

-oXo-

A/N: Ah, finally, another cliff-hanger ^^


	19. Chapter 19: Emotions and some lessons

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sensei.

This chapter has been beta-ed by MS3923 :D

Thank you dear reviewers! Especially for you, to show my gratitude, I posted this chapter earlier than normally ^^

-oXo-

**Chapter 19: Emotions and some lessons**

_(Still) 12__th__ of September_

"Eri-chan!" Ryomaru cried as he saw the blade pierce her in her stomach. _Please don't let it be poisoned!_ Immediately Ryomaru began running to her. "Eri-chan!"

Naruto grabbed the back of the head from the ninja in front of him, and brought his knee up and the head down, knocking him out clean.

Kohaku and Michi battled the other ninja that they had been chasing, but seemed to have things in hand now. Since Ryomaru was already with Eri, his hands glowing while she looked up to him with blood covered hands, Naruto decided to take a quick look at Kenji.

He was rather pale as startled as he was by what had happened. Now was not the time to tell Kenji off for his solo act. Naruto ran over to Eri and Ryomaru.

"You're doing fine, Eri-chan," Ryomaru told her, "Just don't fall asleep, talk to me."

"W-what should I s-say?" Eri said as blood came from her mouth. She was close to crying.

Things didn't look to well; the broken blade seemed to be piercing her in her abdomen, and a lot of blood flowed from the wound as Ryomaru had pulled up her shirt and tried to heal her while slowly pulling out the blade.

Kenji tore his eyes away from Eri and Ryomaru, and tried to divert his attention away. He saw the other twin ninja, the green one, lying tied up on the ground, knocked out and with blood covering his face, as his nose stood in a painful angle. On top of him lay the other ninja from before, the one that had attacked second, also tied up. That had taken Naruto probably some time, to tie them up with one hand.

Kenji looked down to the unconscious ninja in front of him, the blue twin. He should… he should tie him up as well. Slowly Kenji moved forward and grasped some rope from his pouch. His hands were shaking.

He looked over to Eri, and saw the serious look on Ryomaru's face. Eri seemed a bit pale and her eyes were slowly closing. Was this his fault? All his fault?

He turned his head back to the unconscious ninja in front of him. _Tie him up!_ Kenji shakily tried to pull himself together, which wasn't working as well as he had hoped for, and began tying up the blue ninja.

"Eri-chan, tell me again about what your aunt said the first time I came to visit you," Naruto said, as he held her hand. He tried to distract her from the pain and to keep her awake. She was slowly slipping away.

"Hn," Eri tried to grin but it became a grimace instead. Ryomaru had just pulled a bit at the wound again. "Oba-chan thought-" she coughed and grimaced again.

Ryomaru meanwhile whispered to Naruto what was going on. "Her ribs are broken, and I think one had almost pierced her lungs. It might have done some damage."

"T-thought you w-were p-pulling-" More blood trickled down her chin, and she squeezed Naruto's hand.

"The blade, it's poisoned, but I think I can do something about that."

"-a-a pra-ank. With the… the-" her eyes closed, and Naruto squeezed her hand this time. She opened them again.

Kohaku and Michi came to stand behind Naruto.

"But first I need to heal the wound before I can take a look at it. And I think it's a poison that spreads slowly, but takes immediate effect by paralyzing her."

"-the tail…"

"And what did she do next, you remember, don't you?" Naruto asked Eri, smiling at her, trying to show her she would be fine.

"S-she…"

"It's better that we don't move her too much or it will spread faster." Ryomaru wiped away some sweat from his forehead, and was finally able to pull the piece of katana completely out.

"She- aaargh!" Eri yelled in pain.

"Sorry," Ryomaru muttered out of habit. "S-sorry." His stutter was back.

"Michi, Kohaku, take Kenji and stand guard, you never know if more might come." Naruto got a nod from the two and he turned to Ryomaru. "I can get you two inside very quickly, so you will be safe and you can heal her up. It's the best way to move her as little as possible."

"O-okay, just wait a minute."

"I'll only move her when you say I can."

Ryomaru nodded.

"Pulled at your…" Eri closed her eyes.

Naruto tried to wake her up again. "She pulled my what, Eri-chan?" He couldn't wake her up. He pulled his hand back from her loose grip and laid it on her cheek. "Eri-chan?"

"Okay," Ryomaru said as the wound seemed somewhat smaller, though blood was still dripping from it. "Try not to move her too much; the wound isn't f-fully closer yet, also not on the inside."

Naruto nodded."First Eri and then I'll come back for you; I can't carry two people at the moment."

Ryomaru looked to Naruto's arm-less side, seeing the cut that was there in his side, which was already healed, and nodded. He helped Eri in Naruto's arm, and he was gone.

Ryomaru looked over to Kenji and saw he still looked stunned; his hand was shaking while Kohaku and Michi tried to talk with him. He seemed a bit angry from this angle, but Ryomaru couldn't be sure. It might also have been sadness, but he had never seen such an expression on Kenji's face, so he wasn't sure. Naruto was back before he could take in more, and Naruto lifted him up a bit. Everything was a blur for a moment.

When the world seemed steady again, Ryomaru wasn't steady himself yet, but Naruto held him up. He swayed for a moment.

They were in their bedroom -the boy's bedroom- and Eri was lying on a futon, still looking pale.

"You okay?" Naruto asked as Ryomaru tried to let his whole weight rest on his legs again.

"Hm, I g-guess so."

"Don't worry, the dizziness will pass in a moment." Naruto helped Ryomaru over to Eri and helped him sit down. "You need me to do anything?"

"No, it's okay, I got everything here. J-just my bag."

Naruto gave him his backpack and Ryomaru began pulling out some items.

"When you need me, just call me, I can hear you."

"Okay, sensei." And Naruto was gone again.

-x-

Later that day, after a long conversation with the person who Michi called 'upperhead of all smellers', Naruto came back to the boys bedroom, where now Eri was laying too. The man hadn't been very happy to hear about the attack, but Naruto knew he hadn't even noticed it happening, so there had been no panic.

Naruto rubbed his face, before he slid open the door and saw Ryomaru still sitting beside Eri, who was still asleep, but looking less pale than before. Ryomaru had connected her to some tubes and things, while his hand was softly glowing as he held the tube with equipment in his hand.

He was trying to purify her blood from the poison. Since he was still a genin, he had no real knowledge about how to do that yet, but because his mother and sisters were poison makers he knew some tricks. They were lucky with that, otherwise they would have needed to carry Eri back to Konoha quickly, but now she could rest, and most importantly, lay still while Ryomaru tried to heal her as best as he could.

Ryomaru was a little pale himself from exhaustion. He had been using his chakra way too much by now.

Before Naruto walked over to him, he noticed Kenji in the room as well, sitting in a corner pretending to be asleep. He would need to talk to him later. He didn't really look forward to that.

Kohaku was still outside with Michi, Kazuko and Taka.

Naruto hunched down beside Ryomaru. "How's she doing?"

Ryomaru looked up, and Naruto noticed Kenji twitch.

"She's doing better; at l-least she's not losing a lot of blood anymore, j-just a little." He pointed with his free hand to the bandage around Eri's waist, which was a bit red. "I think I've purified over a third of her blood now."

"That sounds good." Naruto laid his hand on Ryomaru's shoulder. "You should rest too; otherwise you won't be able to help her very efficiently."

"B-but-"

"Just rest for a while, I'll wake you up."

Ryomaru considered this for a moment. "All right." He slowly let go of the tube, made some adjustments to his little machine so it would keep working without him, and stumbled to his own futon. He curled up and was asleep even before Naruto had arrived next to Kenji on the other side of the room.

"I know you're awake," Naruto told him as he leant against the wall when he sat down.

Kenji opened his eyes and looked up to Naruto. His face was a mixture of anger, a bit of sadness, arrogance and... he seemed a bit lost.

"You okay?" Naruto asked.

"Fine, I just want to sleep." He turned away from Naruto, but he gripped Kenji's shoulder.

"Talk about what happened."

Kenji bit his lip, but stayed silent. Naruto waited.

Naruto didn't want to push him, because then he would only get mad. He just wanted to talk, and he knew deep down Kenji would like to do that too; he just didn't know yet. Talking about such things helped, but before it came to that Kenji was quite similar to Sasuke; sulk around for a while and grumble. But eventually he would need to tell, and everything would come out.

Ten minutes past in silence, and Naruto did not remove his hand from Kenji's shoulder. His tail lying still on the floor; he was serious.

Fifteen minutes had past when Kenji twitched, but did not say anything just yet.

"He was making me angry, and I knew I could handle him. I could," he said as he looked up to Naruto, looking angry. "Why did you step in front of me?"

"Kenji, I know you could have taken him on, but you were not thinking straight. Eri-chan told you that her blade would not be able to handle his sword."

"It would have!"

"No, it wouldn't," Naruto told Kenji calmly. "You know it was covered by chakra, it was making the blade of the katana stronger, sharper. It would have cut right through the wakizachi, and probably through you as well."

"It didn't cut you," Kenji answered stubbornly.

"Because I'm different." Naruto sighed. "My bones are stronger, firmer than yours." And the ninja was on chuunin-level; he could never have used his strength to cut Naruto deeper.

Kenji stared at him, but didn't say anything.

"Listen Kenji, I didn't try to teach you to work together as a team this much, to just annoy you. It really is important." Kenji huffed. "I know it's not always easy to understand that, I didn't always work like a team either after graduation. I hated Sasuke, I was jealous of him, and Sakura-chan didn't always support me, but we learned as well that we fought best with the three of us together."

"But..."

"It's not always bad to want to fight an enemy by yourself. But when you do, make sure you listen to your teammates, and they will listen to you. You can help each other when it's needed."

Kenji bowed his head. "So you say it's my fault Eri..."

"I have never said anything like that. And I can't say that Eri wouldn't have get hurt if you had just jumped out of the way instead of attacking; we will never know, but at that moment you made the wrong decision. You should have listened to your teammates. They can tell you a lot, even though they are not talking to you. Body language and looks on faces can sometimes tell you a lot more than words."

Kenji was shaking a bit. "I could have handled him," he said again, but there was no anger or arrogance left in his voice.

"Eri-chan got hurt, but she will be fine. You're lucky to have those two as your teammates; Eri-chan is strong, she'll get better, Ryomaru is an excellent medic ninja, and you belong there with them as-"

"No I don't." Kenji looked up, and Naruto actually saw some tears in his eyes. "She almost died because of me, and Ryomaru did everything he could to help her. All I could do was sit here and do nothing!" Tears fell down his face. "I'm sure they hate me, we can never be a team. It's all my fault Eri got hurt."

Naruto looked at the boy. He hadn't expected him to think about his team like this.

"Kenji, you might not see it right now, but you really do belong with them. Once your teamwork gets better and improves, they need you. Ryomaru and Eri-chan are good ninja's, but they need you to complete the team. You need to lead them."

Kenji gasped softly and bended his head again, trying to wipe away his tears.

"I... I'm not so sure," he muttered.

"You are. Kenji," Kenji looked up to Naruto again when Naruto softly squeezed his shoulder, "you made a mistake today, but remember what you've learned from it. Don't forget that."

Kenji moved his hand again over his face to get away his last tears. He didn't want his brother to see him like this.

Naruto didn't know if he should still punish him, he really knew he'd been wrong. He could let Kenji work a little harder when they were back in Konoha, safe and sound. Perhaps that was enough.

"Get some sleep, the mission isn't over yet. We need to get these noblemen out of the mansion tomorrow."

Kenji nodded, moved over to his bed, and pulled up the blankets. Naruto stood up and walked over to the other side of the room, put out a candle so it was completely dark, and sat down close to Eri; watching her breathe softly and a bit uneven. He saw Ryomaru's construction slowly work on, probably slower than when he used his chakra to clean her blood.

Sometime later Kohaku came in and took over from Naruto, so Naruto could go outside, together with Kazuko and Taka. All the students were resting. They deserved it. He would wake Ryomaru later.

-x-

He was lying comfortable. He was so tired and warm, but someone wanted him to wake up. "Hmm," he murmured sleepily and turned away, trying to block out all sound.

"Wake up Ryomaru." Someone shook his shoulder roughly. "Wake up, Eri-cha-"

Suddenly Ryomaru remembered and opened his eyes.

"Aaargh!"

He shot up and turned around as he heard the scream coming from Eri. Kohaku sat beside him, holding up a candle.

"She's not doing well, she began murmuring and turning," he said concerned while Ryomaru quickly crawled over to his teammate.

"Eri-chan, what's wrong?" She was looking a bit greenish. Grinding her teeth, she was twisting and turning in pain.

"Is it- aah!" Kohaku made a jump to his left as Naruto appeared on his right.

"Sorry." Naruto looked over to Ryomaru, as he was checking Eri with his hands, glowing a soft red while he moved them over her body. "I heard her scream."

"I-I..." Ryomaru stuttered and checked his installation. "I think t-the poison is w-worse than I thought. It has t-taken a new form," he said sounding panicky. "I don't k-know h-how to treat it. I-I-"

"Calm down, Ryomaru," Naruto said as he lay his hand on his shoulder. Ryomaru took a deep breath. "Are you sure you can't do anything, perhaps just to ease the pain or-?"

Ryomaru shook his head "I don't think so. It's b-best that she goes to a h-hospital."

"Aah!" Eri panted, and Ryomaru, Kohaku and Naruto looked at her pain stricken face. Kenji had just woken up as well.

Naruto thought this over. "Really fast? Because I think I can take her, but we'll be in Konoha probably not much sooner than late tomorrow evening."

"I don't know," Ryomaru said as he did something to Eri, as she mumbled something. "It has t-to be. I d-don't know what else to do."

"Can I take her now?"

"Just-" Ryomaru took out the tubes, rearranged them, so they were smaller, and redid her bandage and some other things. "Okay."

"Get her on my back."

Kohaku helped Ryomaru to get Eri on Naruto's back, placing the tubes so they wouldn't fall. Eri was partly resting on Naruto's weapons pouch.

When he was sure she was okay, hearing her murmured again, and was gone.

"I'll go tell Kazuko-sensei." Kohaku stood up.

-x-

On his way back, Eri became paler and paler. Her murmuring stopped and she gave some irregular pain spasms.

Naruto worried she might fall asleep for good this time.

"Eri-chan, wake up. Keep with me, Eri-chan."

No reaction.

"Eri!"

"Hmn."

Naruto gave a sigh in relief.

"You're not going to give up, are you?"

"Hm." Naruto could actually hear her trying to make a smile. "It h-hurts," she muttered.

"You're strong; just hold on for a bit longer. We'll be back in Konoha soon."

"Mom," Eri said sadly "I want my... m-mom." Naruto heard her sniffle.

"Yes, your mother will be there."

"Mo...m." Naruto felt her head slump against his back again.

"I have to hurry."

-o-o-o-

Ryomaru had been sent back to sleep after Naruto had left, but he just couldn't. He was too worried. He should have known he was still too inexperienced dealing with poisons.

His family was a famous poison making family, but that didn't mean he knew all about them. Perhaps more than the average person, yes; he knew a little about making them and recognizing them, but his mother had told him he still had a lot to learn about curing them.

He should have immediately told Naruto to take her back, then she wouldn't have been in so much pain. He still saw her face in front of him, so pale and-

He had been so stupid!

Suddenly he felt a finger poking him.

"You're not sleeping. If you don't sleep you're worthless tomorrow."

"Kenji, but-"

"Sleep." Kenji turned away and lay down on his own bed.

Ryomaru bit his lip. He was tired, and he did still have a mission. Kenji was right. Sleep now, worry later. He just hoped it would be as easy as it sounded.

-x-

Taka still sat on the small branch of the tree he had been hiding in most of the night. It was a different tree than in which he had sat before. This pretty big tree was on top of the cliff, and had a rather good view down the cliff.

He peered around in the dark as a crescent moon lit the land and cliff somewhat. It must be around 4 in the morning.

He had felt Naruto moving around a lot after the first attack. He thought he had brought someone into the castle when it was over, and he had been proven right as an hour later he was missing two people in the line-up.

But he couldn't worry about it too much; he had to pay attention. He wasn't on this mission for no reason. Sure the noblemen had paid for it, as they wanted to be sure they had good protection, but they were rich and important men after all. They were not having a meeting just to see each other again and say hi. They had business to take care off, and you always had people who didn't like what was going on. Ninja's would be highly likely hired.

Until now ten chuunin and two jounin had been sent. First 4 chuunin had attacked from the West, while four had come from the East. Taka hadn't bothered to join the fighting, they were with plenty enough and a jounin on each side (and two chuunin).

At that time a single jounin had come to his direction. Taka had quickly taken care of him with a Chidori. It hadn't been much of a fight, as the jounin had not even noticed him.

Later that evening, after Naruto had left (Taka wasn't very happy with that, it could only mean something bad had happened), another jounin and two chuunin had tried to attack.

It had been a bit of a longer fight, Kazuko had eventually joined him (not that it had been necessary), and he had gotten rid of the last chuunin as she had tried to run away.

Taka didn't expect any more fights. The enemy knew by now it had no use. The protection of the noblemen was too good, and they had nothing more to discuss. In the morning the noblemen would leave, but the decisions they ha had to make had already been taken.

He leant down against the trunk of the tree, adjusting his katana a little, and looked to his left.

He didn't think anything was wrong with Naruto, otherwise he would have noticed so, but why had he left? Had someone gotten hurt? Who? Well Taka didn't really care, but still, he was here with them on the same mission. He had to keep up at least a little of what was going on with the other Konoha ninjas.

The raven adjusted his mask a little when he sensed four of them going outside. Two went to Kazuko, two to the other side. That meant one was still inside.

He sighed and suppressed a yawn. He deemed it safe enough to take a quick nap, just for half an hour or so.

-x-

Naoko yawned as she looked around to the noblemen. They came out of the mansion in groups of three or four, standing in the wooded elevator. As things kept going as smooth as they were right now, they would probably finish the mission before noon, and be able to go home. They would probably walk faster the way back than on the trip here, since they had extra time then, and now everyone just wanted to get home.

She pulled her hand through her hair, wishing she could have taken a bath. She needed to wash her long dark brown hair. She combed it with her fingers and put back the two clips with a ladybug on them, to keep her hair out of her face; one on each side.

She knew she was more girly than Michi. She needed more time to figure out what to wear, to go under the shower, get dressed and do her make-up (she wore just a little bit of lipstick to bring out her lips and mascara; that was all), but she was just like that. It didn't mean she was afraid to get dirty; she was just a bit more careful. That was all.

Sometimes Kohaku and Michi were long done getting dressed, before Kazuko and she would join them. She was glad Kazuko could also take her time to get dressed. It made her feel like she didn't really need to hurry up.

Naoko looked over to Ryomaru, who stood beside her. He was still a bit pale, but otherwise fine. He probably was tired and hadn't slept much.

She looked over to his hair, his very short spiky green hair. It probably wasn't much longer than 2 centimetres. He was the only one in his team with short hair. Eri had two long braids, reaching halfway her back, and Kenji always had a low ponytail that reached just below his shoulder blades.

In her team, Naoko was the only one with long hair. Kohaku had brown hair that almost reached his shoulders and Michi's black hair fell just below her ears, hanging perfectly straight and beautifully.

Naoko was a bit jealous of Michi's hair. She never did much about it, but it was always perfect. She herself had to comb it a dozen times to get all the knots out, and then it would wave and curl in all directions. She wanted straight hair too.

Ryomaru coughed softly and Naoko was pulled out of her thoughts.

"Are you hungry?" she asked the boy, who was taller than she was, even though she was three years older.

"A-a little bit."

"I have a doughnut. You want to share it?"

"I-if you don't mind. I can do without."

"No, it's fine by me." She broke the doughnut in to and gave Ryomaru a half.

"Thank you."

"It's alright."

They ate the doughnut, and Ryomaru started fiddling with his fingers. It seemed like he was thinking something over; like deciding if he could say it or not.

"You okay?" Naoko asked and Ryomaru was a little startled.

"I-I'm fine, t-thank you."

Noako smiled at him. "I like you," she told him and he turned red immediately. "No, no, that's not what I meant," she said, blushing as well now, holding up her hands, waving them around. "I-I meant like a friend; you're kind and friendly." She let her hands fall. "You don't judge people for what they are. You just let them be. I like that."

"T-thank you," Ryomaru said softly. It almost seemed like he asked it. "Y-you're nice as well." He glanced at her as she fiddled with her hair. "I like your hairclips."

She smiled. "I got them from my younger brother when he-"

Ryomaru smiled as Naoko continued her story.

-x-

It was almost noon and Naruto had made more progress than he'd thought. With luck he would be back before it got dark again. He was glad he could run a bit faster than that he had anticipated. He hadn't thought Eri could handle his full speed right now, and he was right, so he took it a little bit slower (which was still faster than most ninja could run).

A couple of hours ago he'd held a short conversation with Eri, which Naruto was thankful for, because she could still do that.

Suddenly he fell on his knees. A horrible stab of pain ran through his shoulder, and he held his hand under the missing arm. Eri slowly opened her eyes at the sudden stop and Naruto's soft growls.

"S-sensei?" she asked weakly.

Naruto gripped his shirt more tightly in pain. This hadn't happened before. What was going on? It felt like the scar on his shoulder was too tight and burning.

"I-I'm fine," he managed to say, "More importantly... how are you?"

"I c-can s-say I've f-felt better," Eri stuttered through her own pain.

Naruto gave another spasm, and as sudden as it had come, the pain was gone. He stayed there, kneeling on his arm and knees for a moment longer.

"Okay, then let's get you home, before I get beaten up by your mother." Eri gave an almost sad smile because of the pain.

Naruto stood up again and started running full speed to Konoha. He had no time to think about what had happened, just hearing Eri's voice had said enough; she wasn't doing fine at all. He could feel the back of his vest and shirt getting wet, which meant the bandage was soaked. The only comfort was that he knew he would arrive to Konoha before the sun would go down.

"Just hold on a little longer!" he whispered with firm words. He got no response.

-x-

He ran straight to the hospital into the first room he could find, and laid Eri down.

"Naruto?" came a surprised voice.

"Ino, she got poisoned." Before he could say anymore, Ino had pressed a red button and began making scans of Eri with her purple glowing hands.

"This isn't good. The poison is in an advanced stage. This will be a long night."

"Is it that bad?" Naruto could see Eri for himself now, and she indeed looked worse than he'd thought. The blood on the bandage had spread over her entire stomach. She didn't looked greenish anymore, but very pale and a creepy yellow. Around her mouth and eyes the skin had turned purplish, and saliva dripped from the corner of her mouth.

"We need to get the poison out, fast. I take it Ryomaru-kun has done this?" Ino referred to the tube's that had slowly tried to purify her blood.

"Yes."

Two other nurses came inside and began helping Ino, getting the bandage away and preparing things.

"It might have helped a little bit, but he must have known as well it wasn't enough. When has she been poisoned?"

"Eh, yesterday; before dinner."

"That's been too long; no wonder she won't wake up. No, don't use that, the other one." She pointed to some instrument.

"She talked to me last, five hours ago."

"Shit. Move it Naruto." Ino pushed him aside. "You did your best getting her here; you need to get out now."

"Okay," Naruto agreed, but casted one more glance to Eri, wishing he hadn't.

Now that the bandage was off he could see the wound. It was filthy looking with blood and yellow pus.

"Get her to the operation room!"

-x-

At first Naruto just sat down on a couch in the waiting room for a while as the image of Eri floated through his mind, but after a while he'd had enough of that. So he started looking around for a bit.

That didn't really cheer him up either.

A couple was hugging each other as they cried, a small girl sitting next to them, hugging her teddy bear and looking very sad as she sniffled.

Next to them an old man with a missing eye stared at the wall in front of him. Next to him was his daughter, holding his hand and telling him his wife, her mother would be fine.

Opposite them was a young man, watching the moon as his hands kept shaking.

Suddenly Naruto realized Eri's mother didn't know what was going on with her daughter. He needed to tell her. He was her sensei, and he was responsible for her.

Slowly he got up and walked away. When he was outside he used his speed to get to the house.

He stumbled once on his way over, and he noticed he actually was quite tired. He hadn't slept since the arrival to the mansion, wanting to have his students to get some rest (they were still young and needed it). Plus he had been running all day to get here. It wasn't that strange that when he stood in front of the door that his legs trembled slightly. Or was it something else? He was about to give a mother some awful news... he didn't like the idea.

-x-

Akira was sitting on the ground at a low table watching the charts that Shizune held up. It was late in the evening.

"And when the apple comes out of that, it comes into the large intestine. You can see it's wider than the small intestine." Shizune pointed the organs out on the chart, and Akira nodded enthusiastically.

"The large intestine is about 120 – 150 centimetres long."

"How long is that?"

"Do you remember how long you were when we measured you two days ago?"

"About 97 centimetres," he said happily.

"So that's one and a half Akira-kuns long."

"That's long!"

"Yes, but remember that the small intestine is a lot longer."

"It can be 5 meters long," Akira said as he remembered.

"That's 5 times Akira-kun."

"Five me-s!" Akira said, looking up to the ceiling, imagining the length.

"Yes." Shizune smiled. "The large intestine has an area of 4 square metres if you would fold it open. That's like this big." Shizune indicated an area on the floor in her living room.

"That's big!" Akira fiddled with the apple on the table, the one from the example Shizune used.

"It is. And the apple can stay there for about 15 till 72 hours, going from beginning to the end to get all the last bits of water and useful material we can still use out of the apple." Akira nodded again. "So that means when the 'food' has gone all the way through the large intestine, it has nothing important anymore. It's just waste."

"And then you go to the toilet."

"Yes," Shizune smiled. "Then you go to the toilet."

"Hmm, I think I need to go now too."

"And you didn't even eat the apple."

Akira shook his head. "No, but I had a banana yesterday."

"That must be it then. Go," Shizune said as she pointed to the door, smiling. Akira got up and walked to the toilet, but before he closed the door, he turned back to her.

"Can you teach me about the blood next?"

"Okay, tomorrow."

Akira smiled and closed the door.

"Mouth, esophagus, stomach, duodendum-" Shizune heard him say, and stood up to take the chart of the digestive system away and already getting the one of the blood system out.

-x-

The talk with Eri's mother hadn't been very pleasant indeed, but she was a kunoichi herself and knew what that meant. Together with her sister, Eri's aunt, she had gone to the hospital immediately after Naruto had told everything. Naruto had gone with them, wanting to know how things were with Eri.

He'd sat with them the whole night. Eri's mother, Mei, had asked him more details about the mission every once in a while. When he could tell no more she'd asked about her team; what they were like when they trained.

Naruto thought she just wanted the diversion, even though she really did try to smile at what he told her.

Around midnight Ino and another nurse told them they were done with everything that they could do for Eri, but that she was still in critical condition, since her organs had taken in a lot of poison.

Naruto had wanted to leave then, but Eri's mother had asked him to stay and tell more about team 9, so Naruto had.

At sunrise Mei was allowed to get in the room with Eri. She had taken a few steps before she stopped and turned around, as her sister followed Ino into a hallway. "Aren't you coming too, Naruto-san?"

"No, Mei-san. I'll let you be alone with her. I don't want to impose."

"You're not. You can come as well. You're very important to Eri."

Naruto couldn't say anything to that, because he could find no words.

"I-" Mei stroked a loose strand of hair out of her face. "I think she looks at you as a father figure; she never really had one."

This had hit Naruto harder than anything else that day. He had no idea what Eri really thought about him, and least of all that. He liked it when she accompanied him on some of his walks, or when she asked him to come over for dinner, but he'd never seen her differently than as his student.

"Are you coming?" Mei's sister asked, grabbing her hand.

Mei looked at Naruto before she turned around. "Yes, Rei."

Naruto stood there for a moment as he heard Mei and her sister enter Eri's room. Mei started crying.

After fifteen minutes Naruto realized he was still standing in the hallway, and decided to take a look for just a moment.

Mei was sitting beside Eri's bed, holding her hand as she stroked her cheek. Eri was still pale and her eyes were dark around, but her face said she was no longer in pain. Besides, she had been cleaned up, so she wasn't wearing her bloodied clothes any longer.

Rei looked up to him for a moment. "Look at what you've done." Naruto flinched. "You should have taken better care of her!"

"Rei!" Mei looked up as well. "She's just-" she tried to apologize to Naruto.

"No, it's alright. I was responsible for her. It _is _my fault." Naruto looked down.

"I-"

"I'll go home now, I need some rest." Naruto looked over to Eri one last time. "Get well soon." He turned back to Mei and wanted to say something, but Rei's look made Naruto loose his words. He walked out of the room.

He was tired.

-x-

When he came home all he could do was drop on the couch. He was still worried about Eri, but knew she was in good hands now. Her pale face kept coming back in his mind's eye. It _was_ his fault; Rei was right.

As he lay on the couch he felt the pain in his shoulder again and grasped it. Why was his shoulder hurting? Was it the stress?

He sighed and was unable to keep his eyes open from sleep. As he still heard Rei's words and saw Eri's pale face, he eventually was able to fall sleep.

He woke up again when he felt someone approaching him. His eyes fluttered open, and Sasuke stood in front of him with his mask in his hands.

"Back already?" he asked sleepily as he tried to find a clock to see how long he'd been asleep. It was dark outside.

"The mission was over so we left not half a day after you had." Sasuke sat down on the couch, as Naruto rubbed his face. "Is she alright?"

"More or less," Naruto answered, moving his arm unconsciously to his shoulder. "Last time I saw her she had just come from surgery and was still sleeping. Ino said she would be fine. So I went home." He didn't feel like telling about Eri's mother and aunt just yet.

"You don't look so good yourself."

"Hm, just worried I guess." He closed his eyes and yawned. "And sleepy."

Sasuke looked down to Naruto's hand as he held his shoulder, but said nothing about it. He leaned over to Naruto, close enough to kiss him, but didn't. "I'll make you something to eat," he purred into Naruto's ear, and Naruto shivered at the nice feeling.

"I like that," he purred back, but his purr _really_ _was_ a purr.

Sasuke kissed him on his cheek and stood up, but Naruto pulled him back into a long kiss.

After quite a while he let go, and Sasuke got up to go to the kitchen.

-oXo-


	20. Chapter 20: A lot of worries

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sensei.

This chapter has been beta-ed by MS3923 :D

-oXo-

**Chapter 20: A lot of worries**

_17__th__ of September_

It was 6:30 when Sasuke woke up. That was a good time to wake up.

His head was resting above Naruto's, lying on top of his blond spike's. Every time he breathed out, Naruto's ears twitched.

Naruto's arm was resting on his stomach, and Sasuke had his own arm lying next to his.

He kissed the golden locks and tightened his grip around Naruto.

Naruto didn't react, still too fast asleep. So Sasuke moved his head to the side of Naruto's, and laid it in the crook of his neck, kissing it. His hand moved lower and started playing with the elastic of Naruto's bright orange boxers.

These actions did earn him a response. Naruto groaned and moved his head to the side, away from Sasuke. His hand pushed Sasuke's away.

"Not now," he muttered.

Sasuke looked up to Naruto. He really wasn't in the mood. Sasuke's eyebrows rose a little. Naruto almost never minded to be cuddled and kissed while lying in bed.

Sasuke lifted up his upper body so he could see Naruto's face. It was frowning.

"Naruto?"

"Hm."

"Does your shoulder hurt again?"

"Hm," came the response.

"You want to sleep."

"Hm." That was neither a yes nor a no. It was like Naruto didn't really hear what he was asked.

"You promise never to eat ramen again?"

"Hm."

Sasuke smirked.

"Promise me," he whispered in Naruto's normal ear, "we'll have some fun tonight... the two of us."

Naruto groaned again, pushed him away from his ear, and grabbed his side where his armpit ought to be.

"Damn." Sasuke moved away from Naruto and fell on his back.

Then he heard Akira slowly descending the stairs, humming a song.

Well, he might as well get up now. It wasn't like Naruto was about to wake up soon.

-x-

Sasuke and Naruto were taking a walk. Naruto hadn't said much in the last two days, and had only visited Eri once and very shortly. Sasuke was a bit worried as Naruto didn't talk to him, not about what troubled him.

Akira was happily skipping in front of them pointing at birds and dogs.

After a while Akira came running back to them, grasping Sasuke's pants and pulling if gently as his finger pointed to his left. "Can we go to the playground?"

Sasuke looked over to Naruto, but he was already heading to the direction, and Akira let him go.

"Yay!" He ran after Naruto, circling him once before running to the swing.

"Naruto! Naruto! Please push me!"

Naruto did so for a few times to get him started, and then came to sit next to Sasuke on the bench. There were some other children and a few mothers sitting somewhat further away on another bench, happily chatting and gossiping with each other.

"Naruto, what's going on?" Sasuke asked, gripping Naruto's arm.

"Nothing much."

"Don't lie to me. I don't mind if you don't want to talk about it yet, but don't lie."

Naruto stared at his black eyes, which looked seriously. Then he blinked and looked at his hand in his lap. "It's my fault she got hurt."

Sasuke had a feeling it had been about that. He hit him at the back of his head, hard.

"Itai. What was that for?"

"Don't go sobbing about that."

"I'm not sobbing!" Naruto told him angrily.

"Naruto."

Naruto looked up at Sasuke, as he softly gripped his shoulder. "Yes, you were responsible as the jounin leader of your team. Yes, you might have prevented something if you had intervened sooner. But remember, that it might also have gotten worse. Don't lose yourself thinking about what could have happened. Trust me I've been there." He was referring to killing Itachi.

"You thought your team could handle it, and it was good for them to have this experience. Not all missions go smoothly. You know that, you don't go moping and get upset for a week about those either, do you?"

"No, but this is different."

"Naruto, I don't mean to hurt you, and you know it, but you can't blame only yourself for this."

Naruto considered everything Sasuke had just said.

"I know you're right," he said after a while, looking at Akira as he sat on the seesaw with a dark haired girl. "It's just not as easy this time."

"I know. Just don't go sulking about it all day."

Naruto looked up at Sasuke. "Sorry." Sasuke gave him a small smile. "But that was no reason to hit me on the head!" Naruto pouted, rubbing his head again to prove his point.

"Tou-chan, tou-chan, tou-chan!" Akira came running to them with the girl from the seesaw, holding her hand.

They looked down to Akira and the girl as they stood in front of them. The girl seemed very familiar.

"Can Akane-chan stay over to play, and perhaps for dinner tonight?" Akira asked excitedly as Akane stood beside him, giving them a small smile, her red eyes looking shyly at them.

"Akane, as in Sarutobi Akane?" Naruto asked, and Akane looked up surprised.

"Oh, you're Naruto-san and…" she turned to Sasuke, but seemed to have forgotten his name.

"That's my tou-chan, Uchiha Sasuke!" Akira told her proudly. Then he turned back to his father.

"Can she?"

Sasuke shrugged. "As long as Kurenai says it's alright."

"Kurenai?" Akira repeated.

"Kaa-chan," Akane told him. "She's over there." She pointed to a bench on the other side of the playground, where Kurnai sat reading a book in the shadows.

Naruto got up. "Let's ask her then." Akira and Akane were already gone. "Are you coming too, and say hi to Kurenai-sensei?"

Sasuke grumbled, but got up as well, and followed Naruto.

"Hello, Sasuke, Naruto. Long time no see," Kurenai greeted them as Akane and Akira stood beside her.

"Kurenai-san," Sasuke greeted.

"I hadn't really become aware of it yet that Akira is of the same age as Akane," she smiled.

"Hm." Sasuke never really liked talking like this when it (vaguely) hinted to his age when he'd become a father. (He'd been 16, and he had just turned 22). Especially in this case, in which Kurenai is 15 years older than he is.

Akira stood shaking out of excitement, waiting for the answer, and Akane giggled at him. "You're shaking," she said as she pushed him gently.

"I wanna go," he said. "I want to show you my home."

"It's fine by us; Kurenai-sensei?" Naruto asked.

"I see no objections," she said, and added in a whisper as the kids ran around happily, "Then I got some time off today."

Naruto grinned, Sasuke just stared.

"Next time you can bring them over to me."

-x-

Sasuke and Naruto lay in the long grass in the back of their garden, where the ground went up a bit. Lying on this small ascending part, they had been enjoying the sun while Akira and Akane had been playing in the garden and inside.

Sasuke had actually fallen asleep. After a while Naruto had too, but he had just woken up to find his head lying on Sasuke's shoulder, his arm in a painful position as it half lay under him and half around Sasuke's shoulder. Sasuke's right arm was draped around him, and the other one lying under Naruto, ending in his pants, lying on his buttock.

Naruto just wanted to reach forward to Sasuke's face to wake him up, by pushing his tongue in his ear, when he stopped. Someone was watching them, and it wasn't Akira or Akane.

He slowly turned his head as he already knew who it was. Suddenly Naruto was very conscious about Sasuke's hand in his pants. "Sai! What are you doing?"

Sasuke woke up as well at the scream, but his hands stayed where they were. Sai just stared at them without any real emotion on his face, except for that annoying smile. "Watching you," was the calm reply.

Sasuke slowly sat up straight, and Naruto sat up too, annoyed about Sasuke not removing his hands.

"What else did you came for?" the raven asked with a calm and even voice. Naruto was slowly freaking out as the two kept staring at each other like they had a staring contest on a playground or something. They did that more often, even though they didn't really dislike each other. Naruto guessed it was something like he had done with Sasuke as they used to fight all the time.

"Sakura wanted to ask you," Sai started slowly. Naruto tried to push Sasuke away a bit, but instead of moving away, Sasuke moved closer. "-to come to have dinner with us."

"With the two of you?" Sasuke asked, even though he had heard Sai.

"Unless you're too busy," Sai looked down to Sasuke's hand, and Naruto turned red as Sasuke held his buttock more firmly.

"Sasuke~," Naruto whispered and hit him with his tail, telling him to stop embarrassing them... well, Naruto.

"I think we were in the middle of something," Sasuke said.

"Yes," Sai said still staring at Sasuke, "you were. It's quite interesting what the two of you do in your sleep."

"It must seem so, but it doesn't really concern you, now does it?"

"Guess not, but you never told me to go away either."

"We were sleeping," Naruto protested, but it seemed like he had lost his voice or something as they ignored him.

"Well, I don't really care." Sasuke turned to Naruto and laid his hand on his whiskered cheek, turning his face to Sasuke.

"Wha-?" Sasuke kissed Naruto in a long passionate kiss, Sai just kept staring.

"I must say I've never seen men kissing before," Sai stated dryly, as he watched how Sasuke gripped Naruto more tightly and moving his hand from Naruto's cheek to his hair and his ears.

Naruto was a bit shocked to say the least. Especially as he couldn't break free from Sasuke while he heard another person approach. He began hitting Sasuke with his tail as his hand tried to push him away. He could die from embarrassment right now, he was sure of it.

"Sai, what takes you-" Sakura halted next to Sai, as she saw Sasuke and Naruto kissing while Sai watched them. For a moment she was caught into the kissing action as well, as she had never seen them do so in front of others. She was quite astonished, especially when her eyes moved down to the place where Sasuke's left hand was placed.

Suddenly she snapped out of it. "Sai!" She hit him hard on his shoulder, and he had to take a few steps back from the force she had hit him. "What are you watching them for?" She pointed to Sasuke and Naruto.

Sai slowly turned to her. "I cannot? I thought woman only hated it when their boyfriend watched other women?"

Sakura sighed and glanced at Sasuke and Naruto, as Naruto had given up on his struggle to get free and was kissing Sasuke back now. His tail still was swishing angrily behind him on the ground though.

"But don't you think it's a bit weird for your girlfriend to find you watching two kissing men?"

Sai seemed to think this over for a moment, while Sakura patiently waited for him to come to the right conclusion.

"I think I understand what you mean." He moved closer to her and wanted to grasp her around her waist, but Sakura patted his hand away.

"Don't even think about kissing me right now," she told him angrily. Sai was having trouble to come up with the right action.

Fortunately for him he was saved.

"Akira-kun told me you where he-" Kakashi stopped too when he saw what was going on. He raised an eyebrow. "Didn't know they held private shows," he joked and Sakura flashed an angry look at him.

"They don't, I just walked into those three like this." When she said it, she immediately regretted it. "I m-mean," she stuttered. Kakashi just stared back at her with an amused look in his eye.

Naruto moaned into a kiss, protesting as Sasuke was now trying to pull off Naruto's shirt. Sasuke wasn't really succeeding, but enough to pull the shirt up a bit for Sakura to see the seal visible.

"Look at them," Sakura said angrily as she pointed to Naruto and Sasuke.

"I thought I couldn't."

Sakura gave Sai an angry look. "Can't you two stop and continue somewhere else?"

To her surprise Sasuke detached himself from Naruto, and Naruto seemed thankful to have a chance to look away and catch his breath.

"We are in our own garden," Sasuke pointed out, trying to control his breathing.

Sakura couldn't argue with that, but she had her next argument ready. "What about Akira-kun?"

"He isn't watching, now is he?" Sasuke's hand wondered lower over Naruto's back and his shirt slowly fell back with it. "He's playing with Akane."

Sakura's eye twitched, and Sai saw trouble coming. Sasuke's hand reached for Naruto's pants, wanting to let it glide lower into it, when Naruto stopped him with his tail. Naruto still didn't dare to look at the rest. Sasuke noticed he was very red in the face.

Sakura couldn't win the argument in the way she had wanted, so she changed it a little. "Why is the seal showing?"

Naruto immediately turned a brighter red, and Sasuke could almost feel the warmth radiating off his face, as Naruto tried to pull his shirt all the way down. Sakura didn't know it showed when he felt aroused.

Sasuke's only response was his staring to Sakura.

"Please, Sasuke," Naruto whispered with a begging voice, to stop him from doing any other embarrassing things. Somehow Sasuke stopped staring, and let his arms loosen around him.

"I just bit on his tongue," Sasuke smirked at the lie, and Naruto was thankful for Sasuke being able to think up something so fast. He felt his face cooling down already.

Sakura sighed. "Really?" _So the seal was showing, only because Naruto needed healing his tongue?_

"Really."

Sakura narrowed her eyes at them, not really convinced yet. "Oh?"

Sasuke was sure Naruto was fine now, since he was breathing normally again and was no longer blushing. So he pulled back from Naruto, and pulled up his shirt to show that the seal was gone, but it wasn't. His eyebrows went up a little as he looked over to Naruto. Sasuke was sure he wasn't aroused anymore since Naruto looked curiously to him.

"What?" he asked.

"Why is the seal still visible?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto gave him a questioningly look before he peered down as well. He was quite surprised himself to see it clearly visible on his stomach.

"I don't know?" he seemed to ask slowly. He glanced over to the others and pulled down his shirt. "Doesn't matter anyway." He stood up and walked past them to get inside.

"It does, doesn't it?" Sakura asked him as he passed her. He didn't answer. Then she looked over from Kakashi to Sasuke, who seemed a bit... concerned?

Naruto was almost inside when she remembered why she had originally come here in the first place. "What about coming to dinner?"

But Naruto didn't stop nor answered.

-o-o-o-

Akira and Akane where standing in the garden, very close to the pond. However, Akira seemed not to get closer than 50 cm to the water.

"Look, there it is," Akira pointed to the koi fish, and Akane leaned more forward.

Suddenly Akira grasped her arm, making her look up curiously.

"Tou-chan told me not to get closer to the pond than this," he told her sadly. "He was really mad last time I fell in." He looked really sad at saying that.

"You fell in?"

"A couple of times," Akira said, swaying left to right from embarrassment. "Accidentally, but tou-chan had enough of it, he said."

Akane giggled. "You're funny."

"Am not."

"You are."

Akira pouted and decided to show her something else. He walked over to the small vegetable garden.

"Naruto likes to take care of plants. We have really yummy strawberries." He pointed them out. "Want one?"

"Doesn't Naruto-san mind?"

"He does so all the time. Besides they go dead if you don't eat them."

"Okay." They each picked one and ate it.

"Naruto also pulls out carrots from the ground and eats them just like that. Tou-chan gets mad that he only washes them in the watering can, and doesn't scrape them before eating."

"You can eat them like that?"

"Naruto says yes." Akira put up his finger and in a slightly deeper voice then his own, he said, "'What do you think people used to do in the past? They had no water coming from a tap to conveniently wash their carrots all the time,' or so he says."

"What does that mean?" Akane asked curiously.

"I don't know."

"Oh."

They looked over to the high grass as they heard some sniggering coming from it.

"Is your otou-san there?"

"I think so, with Naruto. They like to play in the grass."

Akane smiled.

"Did you know Naruto used to be a fox?"

"No?" Akane looked at Akira, her red eyes looking curiously at him.

"That's why he still has a tail and ears, because he couldn't transform himself all the way," Akira said almost matter-of-factly.

"I see."

"So that's why they like to play together. It's just like with dogs."

Akane nodded. "They need attention."

"Hm." Akira nodded.

"Sasuke~" Naruto's voice sounded.

Akira and Akane looked up for a second.

"Can I see your room?" Akane suddenly asked.

"Sure!"

Together they walked inside and climbed the stairs. Akira showed Akane his room and all his important toys.

"And this is Pom-kun. He had a broken leg, but Ryomaru healed him. He's a medic ninja. So now his leg is all better."

"That's very kind."

"Pom-kun is very important to me. Kaa-chan gave him to me when I was two." He held up two fingers.

"Where's your kaa-chan now?" Akane asked as she accepted Pom to hold him.

"She is in heaven now. I go visit her every once in a while at her grave, and tell her all that I've done."

"She's dead?" Akane asked carefully, looking down at the cuddly cat toy.

"Yes," Akira told her.

"My tou-san is dead too. I've never seen him; he died before I was born."

"Oh."

"But Shikamaru comes over a lot, and he sometimes tells about him, and kaa-san too. So I don't have to miss him, they say."

"That's great."

Akane gave a careful smile.

They got out some more toys and started playing with them. Somehow they ended up in the living room; Akane lying under the low table and Akira on top of it.

"Is your house above mine nicer?" Akane asked, referring to his 'house' the table.

"I don't know, but I must say it's chilly without a roof."

Suddenly Naruto came walking in, past them without looking at the two, and went out through the front door.

Not long thereafter Sasuke, Sakura, Sai and Kakashi came inside.

"Get off the table, Akira."

"Sorry, tou-chan."

"Hey Akira-kun. Akane-chan how are you?"

Akane crawled from under the table, sitting next to Akira, looking up to Sakura. "I'm fine, thank you."

"You two are having a good time together?" the pinkette asked.

They both nodded.

The adults sat down on the couch, around the table. Sasuke got some pen and paper, handing it to Akira and Akane so they could draw something, keeping them quiet.

"Why did Naruto act like that?"

"He's worried about his team," Sasuke said as he turned back to Sakura.

"But I heard Eri-chan was doing a lot better, now that most of the poison has been cleared from her body."

"Yes, but you know that's not all."

"He finds himself responsible," Kakashi said.

Sasuke nodded.

"But he shouldn't," Sakura started.

"I already told him so and he knows."

"For such a dumbass he thinks too much," Sai said, earning him a glare from Sasuke.

"Can't he hear us talk?" Sakura suddenly asked a bit shocked.

"Naruto went outside," Akira told her.

"He's not upstairs?" Sasuke asked. Akira shook his head along with Akane.

"Well, I guess you won't come to dinner then," Sakura said.

"Akane is staying over for dinner, so we wouldn't have come anyway." Akane looked up at the mention of her name.

"Oh, that's nice." Sakura said, and Akane smiled, Akira nodded in agree.

"Did you show Akane your shuuriken training spot?" Sasuke asked.

"No, I forgot. Can we throw for a bit?"

"Sure."

"You want to, Akane-chan?" She nodded excitedly as well.

"Shikamaru thought me."

"That's great!" And off they were.

"You want to talk about the seal?" Kakashi asked when they kids were outside.

Sasuke nodded. "I think there's more going on than he lets us know."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"I think his shoulder is hurting lately. He doesn't tell me, but I see him grip it when he thinks I don't see it. And now the seal is showing."

"What do you want to say? That you think his arm-" Sakura stopped herself at the mere thought. "Sasuke, that's impossible."

"I'm not saying anything; I just say his arm hurts, from either stress or something else."

"Didn't his hand heal as well?" Sai asked.

"But that was..." Sakura had actually no idea what it was, only that it should have been impossible.

-o-o-o-

Naruto sat on top of the head of Tsunade on the Hokage monument and sighed. He was hugging his knees. He had been thinking about a lot of things lately; he was worried about a lot of things, and not just his team.

"I know I shouldn't have left like that," he said to himself.

"Then why did you do it?"

"Because I wanted to get out for a while." Naruto didn't even bother to turn around when Tsunade sat down beside him, to his left.

"You're still worried over that kid?"

"A bit."

"She'll be fine."

"Hm."

"Just like the rest of your team." Tsunade looked at Naruto's face. "But Naruto," he looked up to her, "if you don't act a little more like their sensei, they might not look up to you anymore as they did before. Be their sensei. Train them. You have more than one student."

"I know, but she's..."

"She means a lot to you."

Naruto nodded. "Her mother told me she sees me... like a-"

Tsunade waited for him to finish the sentence.

"Like a father figure. I had no idea. I just like spending time with her."

"Isn't that good?"

"I don't know."

"You looked up to Iruka like that as well, didn't you?"

"I still do."

Tsunade smiled. "Well, then I don't see the problem."

Naruto carefully smiled.

"And don't let it bother you too much what her aunt told you."

Naruto looked up surprised. "You know about that?"

"I'm the Hokage, of course I know. Plus I have connections inside the hospital, remember."

"Oh."

Tsunade gripped his shoulder. He flinched as she did so.

Tsunade eyed him. "Did that hurt?"

"No, not really," Naruto lied.

"Naruto," Tsunade warned him in a very motherly way, and he looked up to her.

"Alright, it hurt."

"I thought it was over?"

"Apparently not."

Tsunade gave him a concerned look. Now Naruto surely knew not to tell about the seal showing.

"There's more."

"Huh? No-" Naruto tried to look innocent.

"Naruto, I know you as well as you know me. Tell me."

Naruto stared at her and sighed. He crossed his legs and pulled up his shirt.

Tsunade looked at the seal, though it was a little vague. "Since when?"

Naruto looked down to it as well before he lowered his shirt again. "I don't know; noticed it just before I came here."

"It's not-?"

"No, he has nothing to do with it. You know he can't."

"Good."

"Don't ask me what it is, because I don't know."

Tsunade sighed. "Naruto, sometimes I see a grown up man in you," Naruto pursed his lips as he looked up to her; _sometimes...?_, "but you're also just still a child."

"Hé," Naruto said offended.

"But mostly you're just a gaki."

"Hé!"

Tsunade grinned.

"You're 21, Naruto, almost 22. You're still young."

"I'm grown up."

"I never said you aren't."

"Hm." Naruto pouted.

"Come, let's drink some sake." Naruto gave her a look. "It will do you some good."

-x-

When Naruto returned home later in the afternoon, he noticed Sakura, Sai and Kakashi were still there.

"Still here?" he asked as he walked in, a smile on his face.

"You seem all right and good of spirit," Sakura said, as Naruto sat down at the low table.

"You think?" he grinned.

"What did you do?" Sasuke asked with a little anger in his voice, as if asking a child what he'd done, while you already knew it was something you probably wouldn't like.

"Nothing bad. Tsunade and I just had a drink together."

Sakura sighed. "She's not drinking sake again, is she?"

"Why?"

"I thought Shizune and I had finally brought that back a little."

Naruto shrugged. "Let her be, she's Hokage after all. Did you ever notice all the work she has to do? Or what she has to do all day?"

"She talked to you about that? Isn't that confidential?" Sakura asked.

Naruto shrugged again. "I just helped her a little."

"She let you help her?" Sakura sat up, but Sai pulled her back again.

"So?"

Sasuke had been staring at Naruto all this time, and Naruto finally seemed to notice.

"What?"

"How much did she give you?"

"Give me what?"

"Sake."

"Oh. Not that much."

"For you or for the average person?" Sasuke frowned.

"Why? You think I'm drunk?"

"No, I can see you're not; just a little..."

"More relaxed," Kakashi finished his sentence.

"Is that a bad thing? At least my shoulder doesn't hurt anymore," Naruto grinned.

"So it did hurt." Sasuke stared at him through narrow eyes.

Naruto looked over to Sasuke. "Hm?"

"Never mind."

"Oh, Akira-kun and Akane-chan are throwing shuuriken," Naruto suddenly said and stood up. "I like to see that." And he was gone again.

"I wonder how much she gave him," Kakashi said as he looked back to Sasuke.

* * *

><p>When Sasuke woke up, he noticed something was wrong. His right hand was sleeping, and he couldn't move either hand. He sat up straight and looked down to his hands that were tied together with a rope. Another rope held them in place to his stomach. His feet were tied up as well.<p>

Sasuke sighed. "Akira?"

Black hair emerged from behind the armrest of the couch. "Hm?" his small high voice asked innocently, as big eyes stared at Sasuke.

Sasuke noticed he had a dark blue obi tied around his head like a headband. On closer inspection he noticed it was a similar obi to the one Naruto had worn many months ago when he'd been abducted, with the Uchiha fans on the ends.

"Why am I tied up?"

Akira now stood up to reveal the rest of his body as he hung over the armrest. "You're my prisoner," he said happily.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Really?" Akira nodded.

"Then you can untie me now." Sasuke moved so his feet left the couch, and put them on the ground. Akira walked over to him, climbed up his lap, and started fiddling with the rope. Sasuke had noticed they had been knotted together very well, especially for such a young child. If he hadn't been such a wonderful ninja himself, he might not have been able to get himself free.

"Great knots."

"Kaa-chan taught me," Akira smiled. He had loosened one particular tight knot and went on to untie the next.

Bang.

Akira and Sasuke looked up when they heard Naruto walking down the stairs. He was rubbing his thigh as he came walking into the room. He was wearing an obi around his head as well.

"Stupid cabinet," he muttered, and then noticed Sasuke had woken up. "Ah, so you've woken up finally."

Sasuke just stared back. Then Naruto saw what Akira was doing.

"You're not untying him, are you?"

Akira blinked and immediately let the rope go. "Sorry."

"It's alright, young student, this one is a very smooth talker. Don't let his deceiving words get to you."

"No master."

Sasuke had no idea what was going on. _Student? Master?_ _Were they playing?_ He frowned at Naruto.

Suddenly Akira stood up and looked Sasuke in the eyes. Sasuke moved his head back at the sudden closeness of his son's face. Akira kept staring, so Sasuke kept staring back.

"I see what you mean, master," Akira said with a surprisingly serious face, and sat down on Sasuke lap, knotting the rope he had just begun to untie.

Sasuke glared at Naruto, who just grinned back and sat down at the table.

"You have just learned an important lesson, my student. When you are on a mission to capture a thief, don't let him deceive you with his fake promises and lies. Best is to gag his mouth, or when you are a strong minded ninja, to ignore him."

Akira nodded as he finished his knot, and slid off Sasuke and the couch to sit down beside Naruto.

"Let the interrogation squad find out if he was telling the truth."

Akira looked up to Naruto. "Interroriation squad?"

"Interrogation squad," Naruto corrected him. "And now I will teach you how to do that, my young student."

Akira smiled. "Interrogate?" he asked.

"Yes, we will find out why he wandered down the evil path of thievery, and if what he says is true."

Akira nodded and looked back to Sasuke while Sasuke and Naruto were holding a staring contest. Sasuke was still not pleased with the situation he was in, and Naruto was waiting until he would give up and play along. Of course Akira was thinking Sasuke was already playing along.

"And we will not let his silver tongue mislead us," Akira said. Naruto and Sasuke broke their staring contest to look down to the chibi. _How had this kid learned all these words?_

"Indeed," Naruto was finally able to say. He stood up and walked over to Sasuke. He placed his hand on the back of Sasuke's neck, and pulled him off the couch to sit onto his knees on the ground. Then he walked back to where he had been sitting, opposite of Sasuke.

"Now, mister Silver tongue-"

"Cobra."

"Eh?" Naruto looked down to Akira with a raised eyebrow, as did Sasuke.

"That's the infamous One-eyed Cobra, master," Akira said very seriously.

"Oh." Naruto looked up to Sasuke. "Of course. Sorry for the misunderstanding, my student." Naruto leaned forward to Sasuke, and reached with his hand to his face. Sasuke pulled back, but wasn't fast enough as Naruto gripped his hitai-ate and slid it over his left eye, very much like Kakashi's headband.

Sasuke made a sound to show his annoyance, but Naruto didn't even smile back. He looked serious, and kept to his role of the master as he sat back. Though Sasuke saw the way his eyes glimmered, full of happiness and… yes, that same glint he held when he was joking around with Sasuke.

"He's from the land of snow," Akira told him.

"Yes, I noticed," Naruto said and looked at Sasuke's hitai-ate. "The land of slow; with the symbol of a snail on their headband."

Silence fell. Sasuke raised an eyebrow and looked directly at Naruto.

"No~," Akira said as he pulled Naruto's empty sleeve, temporarily out of his role as student, and pointed to Sasuke. "The land of _snow_." He emphasized the last word.

"Oh, _snow_…" Naruto said understandingly. "Sorry, my mistake… again." Naruto almost couldn't contain a snigger at Akira's reaction.

"Can't you even recognize the symbol of the famous snow country?" Sasuke asked, still frowning, but he seemed to be playing along now… more or less. "Dobe."

"Tem-" Naruto stopped and cleared his throat. "Cobra-san," he proceeded, "could you please tell us why you started your robbing career?" Naruto leaned down to Akira and whispered to him, though Sasuke could hear it clearly as well, "Always try asking it the nice way first; you never know." Akira nodded. "Well?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"Because he's-" Akira started but was interrupted by the doorbell.

Naruto grinned before he walked to the door, pulling down his obi headband so it rested around his neck. When he opened the door, he found Rei standing there. He swallowed.

"Naruto..." She looked up into his eyes. "Naruto-san, I came to apologize," she burst out and made a small bow.

Naruto had not expected that, and could only gaze at her.

"I'm sorry for my behaviour back at the hospital. I was emotional and I should not have said those things to you, they're not true."

"But they are. I am responsible for my team."

"I know, but they are still young and training and... not listening all the time." Rei took a breath. "Eri would like to see you a little more. I told her I would get you."

Naruto still didn't know what to say. He'd been quite bothered by what she'd said, and he'd also been afraid Eri might not want to see him. He'd been proven wrong about both things.

So Naruto did the only thing he could think of doing right now; he made a small bow as well. "I'm sorry that I wasn't more attentive." When he straightened up he smiled. "I would like to visit Eri-chan." Rei smiled back. "Just wait a second." Naruto quickly pulled his sandals on, and looked around the corner in the living room. "Sorry Akira-kun, we'll play again some other time. I need to go now." He threw the headband onto the table.

"Okay," Akira nodded. "Can I untie him?"

"Whatever you feel like," Naruto said, earning him a frown from Sasuke, and walked out of the house. "See you later. I have a hospital visit to make!"

-x-

He was glad that Rei had asked him to come, glad to see Eri again, but he still felt uncomfortable as the two walked silently through the hallway of the hospital.

"So, she's doing better?" Naruto asked, because he couldn't stand the silence any longer.

"Yes, she's actually talking a bit too much again," Rei said with a smile, telling she also thought this was kind of uncomfortable.

Naruto smiled back.

They finally reached Eri's room, and Rei knocked on the door before she entered.

Eri seemed to have been sleeping, as her eyes fluttered open and she looked a bit sleepily at them.

"Oba-chan?"

"Hey, Eri. Look who I brought."

Eri looked up when Rei stepped aside. "Sensei?" she smiled when she saw him.

"You're looking a lot better," Naruto said as he sat down beside the bed like Rei.

"Yeah, still feeling wobbly, and they don't allow me to walk around yet." She pouted.

Naruto was glad her skin wasn't as grey as it had been before. White, yes, but just feverishly pale, not I'm-poisoned-and-about-to-die pale.

"I brought you a flower from the garden," Naruto said and handed Eri the single orange gerbera he had quickly picked from their small front garden.

"It's very nice."

She gave it back and Naruto put it in a vase that was already standing there with a couple of daisies in it.

"You weren't too worried, were you?" Eri suddenly asked, and Naruto looked up.

"Me?"

Eri smiled as she saw he had been. "Ryomaru and Kenji visited this morning again. Kenji complained that you weren't training them."

"Did he now?" Naruto grinned. "He'll wish he hadn't."

"Don't be too hard on him. You don't have to punish him for the mission! It was my fault as well, I should have dodged it."

"Eri..."

"No, oba-chan, I think we all had something to do with it, including me."

Rei looked down sadly, and Naruto was stunned how well Eri had taken the outcome of the mission.

"Eri-chan, I promise I will not punish him too hard, just a little." Naruto grinned.

Eri looked up and saw the foxy grin on her sensei's face. "You're so mean."

"Not at all."

"Yes you are." Eri cringed a bit and then started coughing.

"We won't stay too long. You need to sleep."

"That's what mom said. I'm not-" she yawned, "sleepy at all."

Naruto and Rei laughed at that and Eri huffed.

"All kids are just the same," Naruto said.

"I'm not a kid anymore, I'm twelve, and on December 12th I'll be 13 already."

"But you're still a kid."

"So are you... Naruto-_kun_." Rei smirked.

Naruto pressed his lips together and stared at Rei.

"You're only what, ten years older than Eri?"

"So?"

"At 22 you're still a kiddo."

Eri started laughing as she saw the face Naruto made.

"Not you too. And I'm 21," he mumbled.

"I wish I was 22 again," Rei said dreamily. "Dating, being able to do everything-"

"You're not that old yourself. You can still do a lot of things."

"Naruto-ku~n, you're making me blush," Rei teased Naruto as she brought up her hands to her face. Eri couldn't stop giggling, only for the occasional cough.

"She's already 40, you know, Naruto-sensei."

"Really?"

"Eri! Never tell a lady's age to a man... boy."

"Hé."

"Lady? You're no lady, oba-chan."

"Eri, you hurt me." Rei laid her hand on her chest, over her heart to emphasize her words.

"You flirt around with every single man."

Rei turned red. "That's not true!"

"It is and you know it."

Rei's head slumped. "My own niece..."

"It's about time I got some cousi-" Rei glared at Eri with such an evil beam, Eri abruptly stopped her sentence. "I guess I'm fine."

Naruto couldn't help it and started laughing.

After five more minutes of talking, Rei and Naruto decided it had been enough for Eri and to let her sleep.

"You're mother will pass by later today, after dinner."

"Okay, bye oba-chan."

"Bye Eri, sleep well."

"Bye sensei."

"Bye Eri-chan. See you soon."

* * *

><p>Naruto and Sasuke stepped into the Hokage's office. Tsunade had called for them.<p>

"Hey, baa-ch-," Naruto stopped as he saw the Hokage's serious face. "Tsunade?"

"Close the door," she pointed to the door. Sasuke did so and Naruto walked over to the desk, stopping in front of it. Sasuke came to stand next to Naruto, his impressive height looming over both of the other two.

"What's wro-" Naruto started, but then the door opened, and Kakashi and Sakura came walking in. Sakura went to stand next to Naruto after giving everybody a greeting, and Kakashi to her other side.

"I wanted them here too, since they were there both times as well."

"What times?" Naruto asked.

Tsunade sighed. "A couple of weeks ago, I got a letter."

"That's nice."

Sasuke slapped Naruto on the back of his head, and Naruto frowned at him.

"I didn't tell you about it yet, because I needed to be sure it was authentic." Tsunade looked at Naruto. Tsunade handed him the letter.

Naruto frowned at it, and Sasuke read with him over his shoulder, as did Sakura.

'_Dear Godaime Hokage,_

_I, the great Treasure Hunter, hereby write to you that I am not pleased. One of my treasures was stolen from me, and I have good reason to believe it is now residing in your village._

_I am willing to forget what my last treasure did to my beautiful home, if you return it to me. I'm willing to forget everything, if what is rightfully mine will be safe in my hands once more. I can tell you that I will sincerely wait for your response until the Kyuubi festival. _

_However, if you do not reply before that, I will make sure I will get my treasure back. I will not promise that there will be no bloodshed. I obtained this treasure once, and I will do it again; one way or the other. _

_Mark my words Hokage. This will not be over that simply._

_Yours sincerely, _

_The Great Treasure Hunter.'_

"What's this?" Naruto asked as he finished reading the slightly too curly letters (especially for a man), and handed the letter to Kakashi.

"We verified that it really came from the Treasure Hunter, and that he is quite serious about what he's written." Tsunade looked Naruto straight in the eyes. "He wants you back."

"Huh? You got that from the letter?" Naruto asked, looking confused.

Sakura sighed. "You did read the '_One of my treasures was stolen from me, and I have good reason to believe it is now residing in your village_' and '_I obtained this treasure once, and I will do it again; one way or the other_'?"

"But that's both not about me."

"Why would you say that?" Tsunade asked.

"He's only written about me once." Naruto grabbed the letter from Kakashi (while he was still reading), and laid it down on Tsunade's desk. Kakashi frowned lazily at Naruto, who pointed out the sentence to the others as they all bowed over the letter to see what he was pointing at.

"Here." He pointed to the letter, which seemed to have been crumbled a couple of times too many. The sentence was '_I am willing to forget what my last treasure did to my beautiful home-_'.

Naruto straightened up again and so did the rest. Tsunade examined the letter more carefully as she took it in her hands again.

"I've lately been thinking about the attack on the training ground." Tsunade looked up at Naruto very intently, as did the rest. "That ninja wasn't after me."

"What?"

"You mean-?"

"He clearly attacked you-"

"He wanted Akira-kun," Naruto suddenly said.

Silence fell.

"What? Why?" Sasuke asked.

"Because he's Sasuke's son? Do they know?" Sakura asked. Naruto again shook his head.

"No, I don't think that either. Why would he go after Akira-kun if he could get a real Uchiha." Naruto pointed to Sasuke. "They could have captured Sasuke in the forest the same day they took me. Sasuke has a Sharingan for sure, and a good one at that."

"Hmm, we don't even know if Akira-kun will have a Sharingan at all, I get what you mean," Kakashi said.

"So if he's not after you and not after Akira himself, then what _is_ he after?" Tsunade asked.

Naruto shrugged. "That's why I didn't tell you yet, I have no idea."

"I have." Naruto looked up to Sasuke. "Akiharu."

"What's with her?"

"The reason Orochimaru took her in was because she could withstand most poisons. He liked to use her to create new ones and make antidotes, but that isn't really important for now." Sasuke waved his hand as if waving the words away.

He continued. "I always found it weird that she stayed there on her own free will, since she could get out any moment if she had wanted to. She wasn't locked up or guarded, and the experiments Orochimaru and Kabuto did on her cannot have been very pleasant at all." Everyone was listening, but Sasuke stopped for a moment. "I found out why she stayed there, when I entered her room once."

Suddenly Sasuke got looks, which he didn't appreciate. "Not then!" he said angrily. Everyone shrunk a bit at the tone of voice.

Sasuke resumed like nothing had happened, though a slight hint of anger and a blush could be seen. "She collected special items, knick-knacks, but very expensive knick-knacks. Probably items she could more easily obtain via Orochimaru."

"You think she stole something from the Treasure Hunter?" Sakura asked.

"When she went looking for me, she said she went to his old hide-outs. One was very near to where Naruto was being held." Sasuke turned his look from Naruto to Tsunade. "After she died, she gave some of this junk to Akira, who has it in his room right now. I saw no harm in that, since it was only a small part of her collection."

"So now we need to know what item it is exactly. Before the festival."

"But that's already in three weeks," Naruto said.

"So you better find out what that object exactly is before that time." Tsunade repeated and let her hands rest on her desk, folded together.

"That will get interesting."

"Hm, I'm not looking forward to it either. He has a lot of those things," Sasuke said.

"Make a game out of it." Naruto and Sasuke stared at Sakura. "Just saying."

"We'll see."

"So what's the plan?" Naruto asked.

"I'm still working on it," Tsunade told him.

"But you already got this letter a month ago, surely you-"

"I had other work to do as well, and we weren't sure yet that it was real," she said a bit agitated. Naruto took a step back. "As soon as we have one, I'll let you know. Just find that 'treasure'."

"Hai, Tsunade." Naruto looked down to her. "But," Tsunade looked up at him frowning, "you're not really thinking he will not attack if you answer him?"

"Why would you say that?" Tsunade asked him.

"Well he's not that kind of man. Plus if you sent a letter now, I don't think he'll receive it on time."

Tsunade looked at Naruto, she had not thought Naruto had actually met the man. "Three weeks is enough to get a message to the Stone country."

"I know, but he's not always at his castle, he has more locations to stay, and we have no idea where those are."

"You've spoken to him?" Kakashi asked.

"Unfortunately. He was such a creep; all those rings around his fingers, those frilly pyjama's he wore and waving his blue hair out of his face all the time." Naruto made a face.

"So you could recognize him if you saw him?" Tsunade had tried to let an Inuzuka get his scent from the letter, but it was all perfumed.

"I would recognize him, his awful smell, the sound of his creepy voice and I would kick-"

"That is information you haven't told me," Tsunade said.

"I didn't?" Naruto scratched the back of his head and laughed. "I guess I forgot that then?"

"How can you forget to tell about that?" Sakura asked him.

"Well, most of his visits weren't just for talking. Not that he visited me very often. Besides, for a long time I wasn't able to think back about that time clearly. It was all a jumble, and I was kind of losing my mind, and I was hungry, and in pain, and-"

"Sorry, I understand."

"So you think he will not keep his word?" Tsunade asked.

"He's kind of a... ahum, _gentleman,_" Naruto said, rolling his eyes.

"That would only make him keep his word, don't you think?"

"Nah, he promised me often enough he would just let me hang there so he could look at me or something, or to give me more food. You saw for yourself that he hasn't kept any of those promises."

"Ah."

"I think he will only grab his chance to attack sooner, since he will know that you have the item, and you won't be expecting him to attack or come by sooner." Naruto huffed. "Basically he just acts like a gentleman, because he thinks that's -I don't know- interesting or something; probably makes him feel important to pretend." Naruto shuddered and stuck out his tong. "Bleh, so fake."

"This information would have helped if you had told me a bit sooner." Tsunade gave Naruto a glare.

"How should I know you were mailing buddies?"

Tsunade narrowed her eyes almost angrily. She sighed. "Very well, we can't help it. Go find out what that treasure is supposed to be, and I'll talk to you when the plan is ready."

"Hai."

-oXo-


	21. Chapter 21: Bothersome

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sensei.

This chapter has been beta-ed by MS3923 :D

-oXo-

**Chapter 21: Bothersome**

_21__st__ of September_

His steps echoed through the sober looking hallway as he came closer to the right room.

Naruto entered Eri's hospital room, and found Kenji sitting next to her bed. He also noticed how he stiffened when he saw Naruto enter and the small blush on Eri's still slightly pale face, as she gripped her quilt she was making more tightly.

"Ohayo. Hope I didn't interrupt anything."

"No! We were just-"

"What should you be interrupting-?"

Naruto laughed and his students fell silent. "I was just joking." Kenji growled. "But the way you two reacted-"

Eri hit Naruto's arm. "Sensei~. We were just talking," she said seriously.

"Sorry, sorry, I'll stop." Naruto held up his hand in apology.

"Grown-ups," Kenji mumbled.

"So I heard all the poison is now officially cleared from your system."

Eri smiled. "Yep. I just need to stay a little longer to get a little stronger, so the nurse said."

"Your mom will be happy to have you back home, I think."

"Me too."

Naruto turned to Kenji. "Did you tell her about your mission already?"

"No he didn't, you know he never tells us anything." Eri shook her head.

Kenji huffed. "Why should I?" he asked with his arms crossed and his eyes closed.

"Because it's nice," Eri told him.

"It has no use."

"It does, it's called conversing."

"That's just stupid and unnecessary."

"Then what are we doing now?"

"Unnecessary talking."

"And when you talk to Sasuke-sama?"

"That's..."

"Necessary talking?"

"..."

Naruto began laughing again as he had been listening to the two. He got two angry looks once more. "Haha, you two just keep going, don't you?"

"What?" Kenji asked.

"Bickering, always bickering with each other."

"No we don't," Eri said.

"Then what?"

"Unnecessary talking?" Eri said.

It was silent for a minute before both Eri and Naruto started laughing.

"It's true," Kenji said, and the laughing only became louder.

"Hahaha, ow, my sides, my sides," Eri laughed, holding her sides.

Kenji was not amused. He stood up and wanted to walk away, but Naruto grasped his arm.

"You're not angry are you?" Eri asked, slowly calming down from laughing to giggling.

Kenji pulled his hand away from Naruto's grip. "No, I have to go."

Eri stopped giggling and looked up to him. "Thanks for coming. I really appreciated it."

"Hm." Kenji turned around and walked away.

"I should have known."

"What?" Eri asked.

"Nothing. Just glad you're feeling so much better." Eri eyed Naruto, not satisfied with his answer at all.

-x-

"Onsen, onsen, onsen, onsen," Akira sang as he, Sasuke and Naruto were on their way to the hot spring.

"You've been to an onsen before, haven't you?" Naruto asked, swaying his tail.

"Hmm," Akira thought for some time. "Last year, for the first and second time," he said as he held up his fingers. "This will be three times!"

"The third time, Akira." Sasuke corrected.

"The third time," Akira corrected himself, though Sasuke wasn't so sure. Recently Akira thought it funny or something to repeat the last words of Sasuke or Naruto; especially Sasuke's.

"There it is." Naruto pointed and Akira ran to it.

"Akira, don't go too far!"

Akira came back and reached for Sasuke's hand. Only then he was able to calmly walk beside him, though every other step he couldn't help but skip or hop. "Onsen, onsen, onsen," he sang again.

"I guess you've never been to the men's side then?" Naruto asked as he assumed Akira had gone to the onsen only with Akiharu. And since he was still young, he probably always went together with his mother to the woman's side.

"No."

"Oh, but that side is so much better," Naruto told him with an exciting voice.

"Really?"

Sasuke gave Naruto a look that said to stop it. Naruto ignored it.

"Hmhm, way better. You'll see."

Akira gasped. "They have softer towels."

"Of course."

"Really?"

Naruto nodded, and Sasuke was still giving him the stare.

They finally reached the onsen and got to the men's side.

"Is this better than the woman's side?" Akira asked, looking around while Sasuke tried to pull off his shirt.

"Way better; you haven't seen that side."

"Neither have you," Sasuke told him, but Naruto just grinned.

Akira gave the rest of his clothes to Sasuke, who put it away together with his own, and Akira put the towel around his waist.

"It _is_ soft."

"Really? I mean, I told you so." Naruto smiled to the boy.

Sasuke was finally able to hit Naruto's head, as Akira stood in the opening of the sliding doors to peek into the onsen, while Naruto and Sasuke stood behind him.

Naruto grunted toward Sasuke, and then slid the door further open. "Welcome, to the men's side. Now you are officially a- Sasuke!" Sasuke had hit him again.

"And it was so peaceful~"

Sasuke and Naruto looked to the water as a man sat there, his arm over his eyes.

"Aa! Yamato-san!" Akira ran to him, took off his towel, and jumped into the water.

"Don't jump, Akira!"

"That's a bit too late, don't you think?" Naruto asked Sasuke as Akira emerged. They got in as well.

"Don't jump," Sasuke told Akira again.

"I thought we were allowed on the men's side."

"No." Sasuke gave Naruto another glare, and Naruto just grinned back as he pulled up his shoulders.

"So, Yamato-taicho, how are you doing, haven't seen you in a while."

"Ah, yes some missions…" ANBU missions. They knew by now that he was an ANBU as well. "How's your shoulder?" He asked as he pointed to Naruto.

"I'm managing."

"It looks quite nicely healed though."

"Yeah-"

"Akira, what are you doing?"

They all looked over to Akira as he seemed to be swimming around as if he was looking for something in the water.

Akira looked up to Sasuke. "I'm looking for the fishies."

"The fish?" Naruto asked.

Akira nodded. "Just like in our pond."

Naruto had a hard time to hold his laugh, Yamato was grinning to.

"Akira, there are no fish living in here. It's a hot water source, they _can't_ live in here."

"But there are fish that can handle warm wa-"

"They don't live here," Sasuke told him again.

"Not here?"

"No."

"No koi fish?"

"No."

Akira seemed quite a bit disappointed at that.

"And luckily no monkeys either. I hate those things." Another angry glare was directed to Naruto. "What?" Naruto asked innocently.

"No monkeys?" Akira said, sounding very disappointed that there were no animals at all, not even on the men's side.

Sasuke sighed.

"Sometimes you really can't tell it's his son," Naruto told Yamato behind his hand. A glare.

"But there's a fox in here, isn't that enough?" Sasuke grinned.

"Eh? Sasuke~" Naruto looked around to Sasuke, surprised.

Akira smiled. "Can you swim?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Of course I can swim. But I'm not a-"

"Show me, please?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes even further, and lowered his ears as he glared at Sasuke.

"Show him." This earned Sasuke a soft growl.

Yamato sniggered, pushing Naruto forward. And thus Naruto went to the deeper part where Akira was, to swim to him; though it was a bit weird to swim with one arm.

He decided to have some fun with Akira, and suddenly submerged, only keeping his ears above the water.

"Ah, Naruto, don't sink."

"He's not sinking Akira."

As Naruto swam a circle around Akira, the boy began to giggle, pointing to Naruto's 'floating ears'. Naruto moved them around, turning his ears on his head.

"You _can_ swim."

Naruto came up again. "Told you so." He splashed some water to Akira with his tail.

"Naruto~"

Yamato shook his head and sat back, so did Sasuke, enjoying the water while Naruto and Akira played.

Akira was laughing like only kids could when they had fun, with Naruto chasing him around.

"Maa, maa and I thought to have a peaceful time at the onsen."

Sasuke didn't bother to look around, but Yamato greeted Kakashi as he sat down beside the other two men. "Kakashi-senpai."

Naruto reached forward and was able to get Akira. He pulled him closer. "Got you."

Akira giggled and tried to get loose. "Do~n't!"

"I'm going to eat you."

"Whaa, Naruto, no!"

The other three watched how Naruto and Akira kept struggling.

"Naruto~"

Naruto let go of Akira. Quickly Akira swam to Sasuke, and sat down beside him. "I don't want to be eaten."

"Naruto can't eat little children," Sasuke told him.

"But foxes can," Akira told him.

"Is he really scared?" Naruto asked as he got closer.

Akira suddenly let go of Sasuke. "Ooh, Naruto, show me your fox form again," he smiled.

"I- what?" Naruto looked confused. Akira smiled at him. "I don't have a fox form."

"You do."

"I don't."

"You d- Ooh," Akira said suddenly understandingly. "No-one knows," he whispered from behind his hand, as if Kakashi and Yamato couldn't hear it when he said it like that.

"I don-," Naruto said automatically. "Eh?"

"Why can't you transform completely into a human?" he whispered.

"Eh?"

Kakashi laughed, looking down to Akira. "Naruto can't help it, because that's what happens when kitsune transform."

"EH?" Naruto looked over to Kakashi.

"Yes, ancient folklore says that kitsune liked to trick people by transforming into humans, but they couldn't really hide their tail very well," Yamato said.

"Wha-?" Naruto was a little confused at what was going on.

"Really? So Naruto wasn't a fox that turned human, but a kitsune that transformed into a human?"

"Yes, and sadly he is stuck in his human form," Kakashi said.

"Nani?" Naruto was looking back and forth between the talking men, unable to think of anything to say. Sasuke just sat there like he didn't hear anything, his eyes closed and leaning back.

"I'm sorry Naruto, we know you like to keep that a secret, but Akira is just too smart," Kakashi said as he looked to Naruto.

"He would have found out on his own anyway," Yamato added.

"So you can't change into a fox -a kitsune- anymore?" Akira looked sadly to Naruto. "I'm sorry I asked."

"No, I-"

"It's alright Akira, we all made the same mistake."

"Kakashi-sensei~!" Naruto whined.

"Do you miss your family?" Akira asked softly.

Naruto's eye began to twitch as Kakashi and Yamato kept giving Akira false information about him.

"Why are you doing this? I didn't do anything to you?"

"I remember over a week ago," Kakashi started, laying his hand on his chin, "when you nearly killed me on the training field."

"But we made up for-"

"And before that you put some frogs in my bento box."

Naruto smirked, unable to deny that.

"And I remember last month," Yamato started, "when you stole all my kunai before-"

"Those were jokes," Naruto said.

"Is that also something kitsune like to do?" Akira asked.

"Yes, tricking people is one of their favourite hobbies."

"What? Don't keep on telling him lie-"

"That explains," Akira said as he put his own hand on his chin, copying Kakashi. Yamato laughed softly as he saw that.

"That doesn't explain anything," Naruto said stubbornly as he crossed his one arm over his chest.

"It does!"

"No, it doesn't," Naruto told Akira.

"It does," Sasuke suddenly said, his eyes still closed.

Naruto stared with an open mouth to Sasuke. "No, not you too? What did I do to you?"

"It's been too long since-" Naruto's eyes widened, and Sasuke smirked as he stopped talking. "You know."

"I don't know!" Naruto said and turned around.

Akira laughed loudly. "You are right, Naruto. The men's side is way better than the woman's side."

Naruto lowered his ears and lowered further into the water. "Sure."

* * *

><p>"So why do I have to put them all on the floor?" Akira asked as he grasped a few statues, and placed them on the floor of his room.<p>

"We're playing a game," Sasuke told him as he sat down on the bed.

"What game?"

"A game wherein I ask questions and you categorize the stuff according to the questions I've asked." He pointed to the knick-knacks as more and more were placed on the floor. More than Sasuke had thought there would be.

"Okay," Akira smiled. He liked to play games with his father.

"Done," he said after a while.

"File all the things okaa-san gave to you for your birthday."

Akira picked up a few things and laid them aside. Mostly toys. The boxes, statues and stones stayed behind.

"Belongings okaa-san has told you about where she got them from."

Another group was made.

"Things you or okaa-san got in the last two years."

"What about the ones in there?" he pointed to the last group he'd made.

"Divide them in two, inside the group. Make columns and rows on the ground, like this." Sasuke got on the ground and laid the stuff of the first question on top; from the second question below, to the right. And so on. The things that belonged to more questions were laid in more rows.

"That's smart of you, tou-chan," Akira said as he helped Sasuke.

"Next column; stuff okaa-san told you to not touch before she gave them to you."

Two hours later Sasuke was left with three objects that were most likely the stolen treasure. A richly decorated wooden box from about 25 by 13 by 10 centimetres, a necklace made of beautiful teal stones that were the same colour as Akira's eyes, and a statue. It was the same statue of the samurai Akira had showed him during the guessing game they had played three months ago when Naruto was missing.

Sasuke looked again at the red, old and damaged ruby statue. Could it be?

"Can you tell me anymore about these three objects?"

Akira thought long and hard, as his father had already asked a lot about the statues. He didn't want to repeat any of it, because he wanted to show his father he'd remembered all that he'd asked.

"Only that Kaa-chan told me she got the box because she liked the lilac on it, and it remembered her of the tree in the garden back home."

Sasuke picked up the box and turned it around in his hands. He then activated his Sharingan and watched more closely for any clues.

Akira looked at him very interested as Sasuke did so.

"Tou-chan?"

"Yes?" Sasuke said as he kept looking at the box. He thought he'd found some sort of faded inscription.

"What does the Sharingan do?"

Sasuke stopped rubbing his finger over the spot to get away some dirt to look up to Akira. "It shows more than what you can see with your normal eyes."

"Can you see in the dark like Naruto?"

"Not like that. I can see chakra and predict people's movements, copy things like jutsus, hand writing, etcetera."

"Really? Isn't that hard?"

"It's not hard, but it does use a lot of chakra, especially in the beginning. You have to train your eyes."

"Train your eyes?"

"Yes." Sasuke let the box drop on his lap, and laid his hand on Akira's small shoulder. "Don't worry. If you activate your Sharingan I'll help you. If you don't, it's fine too. You can fight great battles without it." He didn't want to bring Akira's hopes up too much. Maybe he would never be able to have a Sharingan. Sasuke would like if he did, but he knew it wouldn't change the boy in any way if he hadn't. It shouldn't change him.

Akira smiled carefully and fiddled with the necklace on the ground. "Okaa-san said she wouldn't like it if I would."

Sasuke looked at him. He knew she'd hated him, but how could she have said that to Akira?

"She told you about the Sharingan?"

Akira shook his head. "No she never told me. She just once said that to me, but I didn't understand her then."

"We'll see what happens, okay?"

Akira nodded, still fiddling with the jewellery.

Sasuke gripped Akira under his arms and pulled him onto his lap. Akira looked up surprised.

"I'll show you what I can do with the Sharingan, and that you can do it too."

"Really?"

"Yes. Here, take the box."

Akira took the box Sasuke handed him.

"Look closely at the box, for scratches or writing."

Akira closely examined the box, and after a while found the place Sasuke had been trying to brush the dirt off, where the inscription was.

"Can you get the dirt off carefully?"

"Hm," Akira nodded and his small finger started cleaning the box.

"You see the inscription?"

"It's very fuzzy."

"I'll show you something." Sasuke moved his hand into his pouch and took out a scroll, beginning to copy the inscription onto the paper. It became clearer to see now what was written down.

"Made for m-m…" Akira squeezed his eyes at the word. "Is that actually an 'y'?" It looked more like a 'g'.

"Yes, good. Go on," Sasuke encouraged him, making Akira happy that he was right.

"My belo-ved-"

"Beloved," Sasuke told him.

"Beloved wife – Keiko."

"And do you see the second part?"

"It's written differently."

"Yes, it's a different handwriting." Written underneath the first one.

"It says 'Akiharu' and a date. Kaa-chan?" Akira looked up to Sasuke.

"Yes, and the date is of a month before you got to Konoha, remember?"

"March… I remember. We were in a village to the south." Akira pointed in his room to what he thought was south. Sasuke steered his finger to the right; to the actual south.

"South," Akira repeated.

That meant this could not have been the object they were looking for. They had been too close to Konoha by that time that she could not have stolen it then. She had already been too ill.

So that left the necklace and the statue.

Sasuke and Akira looked at the other artefacts as well, but they found nothing interesting.

"Was that all? Is the game finished now?" Akira asked as Sasuke and he cleaned up the room.

"Yes, that was it."

Akira wanted to pick up the necklace, but Sasuke gently laid his hand on top of Akira's.

"Can I borrow those two things?"

Akira looked down and then back up. "Okay."

Sasuke smiled. "You want me to watch your shuriken practice?"

Akira's smile became so wide it would have split his face in two. "Really?" Sasuke nodded. "Yay!" he ran downstairs.

Sasuke picked up the two objects. He would bring them to Tsunade later.

-o-o-o-

Sweat was dripping down his face, and he panted as he was barely able to stand. Ryomaru looked up, seeing Kenji was in a similar state as he was in, though he tried to hide his fatigue as he stood straight.

Senbon were scattered around Kenji, and some had even hit him in his arm or had made scratches on his face. Ryomaru had some cuts as well while shuuriken covered the ground around him.

"You guys are getting better," Naruto told them as he looked at the two boys staring at each other. "But remember that even a single scratch can be fatal if some strong poison gets in your blood, or at the right place, opening an artery."

"What are we doing then, sensei?" Kenji asked Naruto a bit angry.

"Training," Naruto said, tilting his head.

"That's what I meant to say." Kenji made his point.

"Right."

"Are you ready, Ryomaru?" Kenji asked, but didn't wait for the answer as he threw more shuuriken to the taller boy.

Ryomaru shrieked, because he had been trying to heal some scratches, and quickly ducked away. He kept running from Kenji's throws.

"Don't flee, Ryomaru," Naruto told him.

"S-sorry, sensei." Ryomaru turned around and jumped into a better position, throwing some senbon towards Kenji.

Kenji nearly avoided them, as tired as he was he couldn't move that quickly anymore. However, he wasn't the only one; Ryomaru stumbled as his knee gave out.

"Gotcha!" Kenji threw a single shuuriken, aiming for Ryomaru's arm. Ryomaru's eyes grew a bit wider as he saw the pointed object coming closer. He was only saved from harm by falling backwards by accident.

"Okay, that's enough." Naruto smiled, while Kenji laughed at Ryomaru when he rubbed his sore buttocks.

"That was a funny fall."

"I-it wasn't," Ryomaru muttered. "I fell on m-my tailbone; it hurts."

"It saved him alright." Naruto knew he'd had some close calls like that himself, saving him from harm.

"Let's take a break," Kenji said and turned around, crossing his arms, and walked away.

"Looks like you want to take over as sensei?" Naruto asked, smiling as he helped Ryomaru up.

"Hmpf."

Naruto walked beside Ryomaru as they caught up with Kenji near the wooden poles. Kenji had opened up a little after their last mission. He was still a bit grumpy (in Naruto's opinion) and arrogant, but he would say more than just calling out bad things to his teammate. It was like Kenji respected Ryomaru a little more since he'd seen what use a medic ninja was to the team.

"So, Kenji," Naruto said as he looked down to the boy, both boys looking back up to him. "Your mother invited me to your house for dinner."

"She did what?" Kenji asked startled.

Naruto grinned. "I suppose she just wanted to meet me."

"Y-you never invited Naruto-sensei over to i-introduce him to your family?" Ryomaru asked. He and Eri had done so.

"Why should I? They don't need to see him," Kenji said as he pointed to Naruto.

"You're not ashamed of me, are you?" Naruto looked down in a slightly threateningly way.

Kenji huffed. "I have all the reason to be ash-"

Naruto slapped him on the back of his head. "Don't talk like that."

Kenji looked up with big eyes, being astonished. Naruto had never done something like that, as if he was telling his nephew to be more polite.

It was silent for a moment and then Ryomaru began to giggle. "Haha, t-the look on your face," he said, pointing to Kenji.

"What?" Kenji said gruffly.

Naruto smiled too. "That's a surprise," he suddenly said, making Kenji and Ryomaru look up to him again. They followed his eyes to the entrance of the training ground.

Black hair suddenly appeared, looking around, before the small boy came running to them. "Naruto! Ryomaru! Kenji!" Akira said happily, jumping up and down when he stood beside them. Sasuke slowly followed Akira onto the field, stopping a few metres away from the boy.

"Sasuke-sama," Kenji said politely.

"Hey, A-Akira-kun," Ryomaru greeted Akira first and then Sasuke.

"What are you two doing here?" Naruto asked.

"I wanted to practice shuuriken throwing here," Akira smiled. "Tou-chan thought it to be okay."

Naruto looked up to Sasuke, who didn't show if what Akira just said was true. However, Kenji had found more in those words than Akira could know. _Had Sasuke liked to see them train?_

"T-that's nice, Akira-kun."

"It is," Akira said brightly. Then he looked up to Kenji and Ryomaru, noticing the small cuts, and in Kenji's case holes in his leather jacket. "You are not hurt?" he asked them both.

"It's alright," Kenji said. "We can handle it."

"Really?"

"Perhaps you should watch them for a moment, Akira-kun, they are practicing with shuuriken (and senbon) too," Naruto said.

"You are?"

Ryomaru nodded.

"Can I watch?" he asked, as if he needed a confirmation from Ryomaru and Kenji.

"Of course, break time is over," Naruto said and stood up.

Akira clapped his hands out of excitement, while the two older boys walked away and took out some weaponry.

Sasuke walked up beside Naruto.

"It's nice of you to come over," Naruto said. "I think it gives them just an extra bit of motivation."

Sasuke didn't say anything while he crossed his arms. He was looking at Akira while he cheered the training boys on, jumping up and down.

After ten minutes Sasuke walked up to Akira and turned him around, trying to point out he was here for training too.

"Oh, yeah." Akira quickly got some practice shuuriken of his own, and tried to hit one of the poles he'd set as target.

Naruto smiled and walked up to his team.

"That's not throwing, don't hurl your weaponry just like that. A bit more precision, boys; Sasuke is watching." These words did wonders as they indeed tried to improve their aim, doing their best in front of the Uchiha (who was with his back to them, but they didn't notice or cared - just the idea of him being there was enough).

-x-

He yawned and stretched himself out. The ramen they had eaten after training had been heavenly. Naruto looked down to the table where Akira was making a drawing.

"What is that?" Naruto asked as he pointed to the drawing. Most of the time he still couldn't figure out what the boy was trying to draw. Naruto didn't think he could draw very well, Sasuke told him he had no imagination.

"It's caterpillar-san. Sai-san said that maybe if my drawings were better he could jutsu them," Akira told him happily.

"Really?" Naruto looked down to the drawing. It would take a while before they would be jutsu worthy, Naruto thought. "That's nice of him."

Akira nodded. "He said he would help me make my drawings better." Akira turned his attention back to the paper.

Naruto looked out of the window as it had started raining. Sasuke had gone to Tsunade, to give her the artefacts. That probably wouldn't take too long.

Naruto stood up and walked over to the front door. He opened it.

"Sensei?" Ryomaru asked startled as he had just been about to rang the bell. Kenji stood beside him and also appeared to be startled, but quickly hid it.

"Ryomaru, Kenji. What are you doing here?"

"Naruto-sensei, Eri-chan has been released from the hospital. You want to v-visit her with us?"

Kenji looked up as well.

"Of course." Naruto turned into the direction of Akira. "Are you coming too, Akira-kun? Eri-chan is going home."

Akira looked up. Naruto had asked him to come, but of course he had to come, unless Sasuke would return home now.

"You can take your drawings and pencils with you."

"Okay." Akira began collecting his pencils.

-o-o-o-

Sasuke had just been to Tsunade and had given her the two items. She was surprised he'd actually brought _two_ items, and Sasuke had told her he was long glad it were _only_ two.

He thought about how much time was left. Two and a half weeks till the festival. They better hurry up with a plan.

"Well, good job Uchiha." Tsunade looked the artefacts over before she put them down on her desk. She would let someone look them over for their value. Sasuke had already told her he hadn't found anything interesting about the objects, so there were no jutsus cast on them.

Tsunade looked down to her papers and began reading something. After a moment she noticed Sasuke was still standing in front of her. "You can leave, Uchiha."

Sasuke didn't move and only looked the other way.

"Sasuke, you need something else from me?"

Sasuke took a breath, looking down to Tsunade with a serious face. "I just wanted to ask you one thing."

Tsunade was interested now; what was making the Uchiha so nervous? She patiently waited for Sasuke to speak, but she didn't need waiting long.

"I was just..." he stopped; he wasn't sure if he should ask her.

Tsunade gently motioned for him to go on.

"I was just wondering-"

* * *

><p>He took a slice of ham and put it on his bread. He took a second slice, but that still wasn't enough. His usual three didn't seem to do it either as a fourth and fifth slice followed.<p>

Sasuke stared at Naruto as a sixth and finally seventh slice ended on his bread. He put another piece of bread on top, sandwiching the ham, though Sasuke was wondering if it wasn't more ham than bread by now.

Naruto tried to cut the bread in two pieces, but with one hand that was very hard, and since Sasuke didn't allow him to use his tail at the table while eating...

Naruto looked up to Sasuke with a smile. Sasuke knew what it meant and grabbed his plate to slice the bread.

Akira was watching this all happen as his mouth hung slightly open with his fork close to his mouth, nothing on it.

Sasuke gave the plate back, when Naruto suddenly seemed to notice the time.

"Ah, I'm a bit late." He stood up, grabbed a slice of bread, and held it up while he walked to the small hall. His tail grasped the bread, while he used his hand to get his weapons pouch, and adjusted it to his belt. When he came back into the kitchen he gulped down his milk, grasped the other slice of bread, and said, "See you later."

Sasuke watched him go, through narrowed eyes as he didn't approve of anything what Naruto had just done.

"Bye, Naruto," Akira said as he leant over the table, still looking a bit stunned when Naruto went out the door. "Seven slices?" he asked Sasuke.

Sasuke growled. Naruto had just taken seven slices of ham on his bread, had used his tail to hold it, had left while they were still eating, and to top it all off _he hadn't even kissed Sasuke goodbye!_

"As long as you know that what he did, was wrong," he said softly to Akira.

Akira nodded. "I do."

"Good."

-x-

Naruto arrived onto the training field as the last one, his team already leaning or standing around the wooden posts.

"You're late sensei," Eri told him. "I'm finally fit to get a mission, and you're late."

"Sorry, forgot the time. But it doesn't really matter, because I already got the mission yesterday."

"What?" Kenji and Ryomaru looked up.

"What is it?" Eri asked, looking up excitedly.

"I'm not telling yet."

"Then let's go." Kenji turned around.

"No, we have to wait for the last ninja to show up."

"S-someone is accompanying us?" Ryomaru asked.

"Yes."

"Who?" they asked all three at the same time, looking up hopefully.

"It's not Sasuke, otherwise he would have gotten me here before you guys."

"Oh," sounded the disappointment.

"But you'll like who's coming, I'm sure of it."

And so they waited, Eri telling them something her aunt had told her; Ryomaru and Naruto listening, responding every now and then, and Kenji looking away to the sky, looking bored.

"Ah, finally, our partner in mission is here," Naruto finally said as he stepped aside. Someone landed on that very spot where he had just been standing.

Team 9 looked up.

"Oooh!" Eri yelled, pointing to the person as she straightened up. "Tenten-san!"

"Ah, my second cousin. Long time no see," Tenten said kindly as she waved to the three genin.

"She's your cousin?" Kenji asked.

"Second cousin," Eri corrected him and hugged Tenten.

"So, you are all better? I heard you got wounded pretty bad last mission."

"I'm all okay now," Eri smiled.

"Well, then, let's tell them what the mission is," Naruto said.

"You haven't told them yet?" Tenten asked, raising her eyebrow.

"Nah, wanted it to be a surprise," Naruto grinned.

"What is it, sensei? What's the mission?"

"Tenten took care of it, so I'll leave the honour to her." Naruto took a step back to give Tenten some space.

"Well, I just wanted to join your team too for once. Almost everyone has taken them on a mission, or done training with them. I wanted to see you for myself," Tenten smiled.

"Then what's the mission, Tenten-san?" Eri asked, clinging to her arm. Tenten laughed.

"I asked a friend of my father if he perhaps needed some help," Tenten said, looking down to Eri.

"Oh?" Then Eri gasped as she thought she knew what might be going on. "No!" she said happily.

"Yes. He's a weapons blacksmith. He especially makes tools for ninjas," Tenten answered.

"Oh! I always wanted to meet him!" Eri was dancing in excitement. Ryomaru and Kenji just stared at her, no idea what was going on.

"Must be some great man," Kenji muttered.

"Supposedly," Ryomaru answered.

"He is! You never heard of Hama-sama?"

"Hmmm... Hama, Hama." Kenji was clearly thinking.

"I think he's the one my mom gets the senbon from," Ryomaru said.

"That's why they are of such great quality!" Eri couldn't contain her excitement one bit, as she squealed and made weird movements. Tenten and Naruto began laughing at her.

"Girls are stupid," Kenji muttered. "Let's go."

-x-

Somewhere near the border of Konoha with the forest, outside of the walls, Hama lived in a small cosy house with a big chimney on top. Smoke was coming out of it, and they saw the blacksmith and his wife standing outside, looking around at some scrap metal.

"Ah, there you are. Tenten-chan, long time no see."

"Hama-san, good to see you." Tenten gave a small nod to the blacksmith and his wife.

"Okay, kiddo's. I'm Hama Genju and this is my wife Hama Tatsuki." The blacksmith turned to the metal in front of him. "This came in today; some metal is not usable anymore, so before we can even begin to think about making some weaponry, we need to separate the usable metal from the non-usable. You understand?"

"Hai, Genju-san." The trio walked up to the big pile, and began removing big pieces of old beams, machines, lamps and other things that had once contained metal, but were now waste. Genju told them what was good metal and what not, and to which pile to take the metal. Tenten and Naruto were helping out as well.

"I told you, Genju, you should have let someone come much sooner. You are getting older, you know, and your back isn't what it once was."

"I know Tatsuki, but I can still do it myself, no need to spend money on it every week."

His wife shook her head as she stood beside him, watching the others work. "At the end of the day you will admit you might want help every week, when you will notice you have more energy left."

"We'll see."

Tenten grinned as she heard the couple squabble, like they used to do more often.

"So, what are we going to make?" Kenji asked when they had finished dividing the metal into categories.

"The categories have a purpose. For example these metal pieces are perfect for kunai," Genju said, pointing to some stack of metal. "But they are not very good for making swords and katanas."

Eri again had trouble to stand still as she kept moving her hips and arms.

"Do you have a special request as to what we shall make today?" Genju smiled at Eri's enthusiasm and the looks she got from the two boys, who seemed interested in this as well, but didn't find it necessary to squirm around like she did.

"Oh, ooh! Kunai; no wait! A katana... No!"

"Eri!" Kenji told her sternly. "Everything will be fine to you; don't make a fool out of yourself."

"But... what?" Eri looked to Kenji with a frown. Kenji smiled.

"What about you, Ryomaru-kun?" Tatsuki asked.

"I don't m-mind, everything will be fine b-by me," Ryomaru blushed, looking down to his sandals.

"And you gave me a weird just now," Eri mumbled somewhat to Ryomaru, who became even redder.

"Ryomaru at least doesn't dance when he says what he thinks," Kenji said a bit haughty.

"Hmpf. What would you like to do then?" Eri asked, her hands in her sides.

Kenji was silent for a moment and then suddenly grinned. "I would like to know how shuuriken are made."

"Shuuriken? No cool, big sword or beautiful katana?" Eri asked amazed.

"I have seen how those are made before."

Tenten, Naruto and the Hamas just stood watching the genin squabble about what to make. Then Tenten shook her head and turned to Genju, whispering something.

"Of course, that's okay," he said and walked away. "Come kids, work is waiting."

"What? What are we going to make?" Eri asked as she hurriedly followed Genju inside.

"You'll see."

"He's just taking control, because you were losing valuable time," Naruto told them. "You sometimes have this tendency."

"No, we haven't."

Naruto shook his head. Tenten giggled. "Now I know why everyone wanted to teach them something," she grinned.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean to say by that?" "Yes, what did you mean by that?" Kenji asked.

"Nothing," Tenten smiled.

"Like I can't teach them," Naruto huffed.

"We are great by ourselves," Kenji said. Naruto fell silent.

"You want to say you don't need a sensei at all?" He asked Kenji.

"Sasuke-sama would be okay," Kenji said, and Naruto pursed his lips. Then Kenji turned around and grinned.

"I'll get you back for that," Naruto said softly as he now knew Kenji had not meant everything he'd said.

"I meant that you are funny," Tenten told them.

"Oh."

Genju had sat down and was waiting for everyone to get inside. "We are going to make a kunai each, your very own kunai."

"A kunai?" Kenji asked, considering the idea.

"A kunai!" Eri squealed.

"Normally we make one kind of kunai type for Konoha, with different weights and seizes, but the same shape. For now we will make a personal kunai that -at request- you can order. After that we will have time to make some normal kunai, so you will have done something useful for me as well."

"Genju!" Tatsuki warned him. Genju shrugged.

"As you can see, I've got some metal bars on this table." Genju pointed to some metal bars from about 10 by 5 by 5 centimetres. He picked one up. "They have different weights. Pick one you find best suitable to your hands."

-x-

Later that afternoon, Kenji, Eri and Ryomaru had finished their own kunais and the normal ones, as they were heading back home. Tenten had one too, while Naruto had just watched. He'd come to notice this was work you needed two hands for, not one hand and a tail. So that was why Tenten had taken over from him, but since she worked at least twice as fast as the genin, having done this more often obviously, she had no trouble making two.

"Here you go, Naruto." She handed him his kunai.

"Wow, great work, Tenten." Naruto admired the kunai as he had noticed a while ago what she had been doing. The kunai held more or less the exact same shape as the kunai the Yondaime wielded.

"Let us see, Naruto-sensei?" Eri asked, standing on her toes. Naruto did so. "It seems, vaguely familiar," she said, but then went to Tenten to look at her kunai.

"She is our weapons expert, and she doesn't even recognize the kunai of such a famous ninja in Konoha," Kenji said.

"What?" Eri came back to take another look at the kunai, taking it from Naruto's hand. Ryomaru looked over her shoulder.

"I-I don't recognize it," the green haired boy said.

Eri was studying every angle of the kunai, but said nothing. After a while she sighed. "Who then?" she looked up to Kenji as he came walking next to her, looking smug.

"Ow, ow, Eri-chan." Kenji said, shaking his head, sighing.

"Don't give me that grin- _Eri-chan_?" she suddenly asked. Kenji looked away.

Tenten and Naruto exchanged looks, and Naruto shrugged.

Eri came back from her daze and gripped the kunai tighter. "Who? Kenji, why don't you just tell us?"

Kenji said nothing. "You _do_ know?" Ryomaru asked.

"I do."

Eri and Ryomaru couldn't deny Kenji had the most book smarts. Even though Ryomaru could be the only one seen reading, he only read medical books. Kenji had always had great grades in History classes.

"Kenji? Please tell us?" Eri tried another approach; she was very curious.

"Shall I tell them, sensei?"

Naruto shrugged. "Why not?" Naruto was amazed by Kenji's behaviour. He was actually trying to be nicer to his team, this whole day. Could it be that he still felt guilty for what had happened to Eri, and wanted to make things up this way?

"I don't know," Kenji said. "They can't even figure it out with you as our sensei."

Naruto raised his eyebrows. Did Kenji know about Yondaime being Naruto's father?

Eri and Ryomaru looked up to Naruto.

"What about sensei?" Eri whispered. "Has it something to do with-" she looked up to Naruto again and then back to Kenji. "You know?" her eyes became wider.

Naruto suddenly burst out laughing. "You mean my ears and tail? Eri-chan, you know that wasn't very subtle."

Eri grinned. "Eheheh." She brought her hand up to her neck.

"Not really..." Kenji looked back up to Naruto. "Though..." he seemed to think about something, not having noticed this link before that he had just made in his head.

"Ah, mo, Kenji!" Eri whined.

"You sure know how to make things more interesting and mysterious," Tenten told him.

"You guys must be stupid if you hadn't noticed before." Kenji folded his arms over his chest.

"Have you been doing some research about sensei?" Eri asked amazed. The three of them had been trying to find out more about their sensei, seeing no one had tails and fox ears; but all they had come up with was a dead end. Naruto was an orphan and his parents were unknown to the books.

"You have been doing research about me?" Naruto looked down surprised, his eyebrows rising.

"Eri!" Kenji said angrily.

"I'm sorry; it slipped-"

"We're s-sorry, Naruto-sensei." Ryomaru had stopped walking and bowed.

"Er..." Naruto had no idea how to go about this.

"We were just curious, and it was kind of exciting." Eri fiddled with her braid. "It was only once! Kenji didn't want to go to find out more ever since that time."

"Um, okay? You could also just have asked."

"But you were so mysterious about it and didn't say anything." Naruto though back to when he just got his team. He hadn't been keen on explaining things to them yet, nor had they directly asked him. "Still are," Eri mumbled, eyeing him.

"I just can't image the three of you working together back then."

Kenji stiffened as he felt Naruto look at his back. "It was only once," he said.

"You were curious too," Eri told him.

"Not really."

"You so were!" Ryomaru nodded in agree with Eri.

"Was not."

"Don't lie, Kenji. I kno-"

"It doesn't matter, does it?" Naruto asked.

"Not really," Eri admitted. Then she remembered their original conversation.

"So you found anything out?" She asked Kenji again softly.

Kenji sighed. "I didn't. It was very noticeable the first time we met sensei."

Naruto now really began to wonder what had been so noticeable about him, something only Kenji had seemed to notice. Eri and Ryomaru waited for Kenji's answer, as well as Naruto and Tenten, all eyes on him.

"All right, I'll tell. You will find yourselves quite dumb when I tell you, though."

"Just say it, Kenji."

"That he looks an awful lot like-" Kenji stopped. "Nah, never mind." He walked on faster on purpose.

Eri and Ryomaru were now beyond curious, and immediately walked up to Kenji to ask him to tell them. Even Ryomaru asked him to tell.

Naruto grinned, as did Tenten, now they had an idea of what Kenji had seen what the others hadn't.

"It's really not that noticeable," Tenten told Naruto.

"Apparently."

"Only after you know," she said.

"Haha, that's stupid, Tenten."

"It's true, though. I only noticed the resemblance when Sakura told me you looked like him over a year ago."

"Really?"

Tenten shrugged.

"Who, tell us who?" Ryomaru asked Kenji

"Kenji, don't be so mean!"

Kenji sighed again, obviously enjoying all this. "All right, all right. Stop pestering me."

Eri and Ryomaru took some distance, waiting.

"It's only obvious sensei looks a lot like Yondaime Hokage-sama."

Eri and Ryomaru gaped at him, and then looked over to Naruto. After a while they looked back to Kenji, as if they waited for his confirmation that he'd meant what he'd said.

"Eh?" Their looks went back to Naruto, who was grinning now.

"No way."

"You're feeling quite stupid right now, don't you? It really is obvious."

"Apparently not," Naruto told Kenji.

"Then they are just stupid." Kenji turned around and started walking away.

The rest of the walk home Eri and Ryomaru were awfully quiet, as this new information went through their heads.

Arriving back in Konoha Tenten said goodbye. Team 9 walked on further together until they reached Eri's home first. Eri was still holding Naruto's kunai while they stood in front of her house, so Kenji pointed this out to her.

"Oh, yeah... right." She handed Naruto his kunai.

"Are you still that amazed?" Naruto asked.

Eri nodded. "I really hadn't seen the resemblance before."

"That's just stupid," Kenji said again, but he grinned.

"Well, not everyone thinks that," Naruto said as he remembered Akira's reaction.

"Just because of the ears?" Kenji shook his head. "You have to be able to look past those kinds of things."

"It's not like any other people have fox ears," Eri protested as she walked to the door where her mother was greeting her.

-x-

When Sasuke woke up it was still night as a sliver of moon was visible through the window. Naruto was lying on top of him, moaning every now and then.

Sasuke felt something pushing in his thigh and grinned. Slowly he moved his arms around Naruto, and moved them both around until Naruto was on bottom.

A moan sounding like 'ske' escaped Naruto's mouth, nothing more than that as he slept on.

Sasuke started kissing Naruto's cheek, letting one of his hands rest on top of Naruto's chest. He grinned at the thought of this little adventure in the middle of the night.

The hand on Naruto's chest moved lower, disappearing into Naruto's boxers as he found a semi-erection. Sasuke started playing with it; earning him a moan from Naruto.

He went on as his own lower region started reacting to what was going on. It was kind of exciting. However, Naruto was still not really waking up, even though the moans became somewhat more coordinated. Not that this stopped Sasuke from what he was doing.

Suddenly Sasuke gasped as he felt Naruto's hand in his own boxers and blue eyes slowly opened.

"Having some fun... on your own?" he moaned softly and gave a jerky movement at Sasuke's touch.

Sasuke just grinned, and started kissing Naruto back on the mouth as Naruto had leant his head forward. Both their moans and gasps made it harder to keep kissing, but made it all the much better.

As pleasure filled the both of them, Sasuke lay down on Naruto. Slowly removing his hand out of Naruto's underwear, Sasuke turned them around again so Naruto could sleep on top of his chest, just the way he liked it. He heard Naruto smirk at his action.

Naruto laid his hand on Sasuke shoulder, pulling himself up a little, and started licking Sasuke's cheek as if he wanted to clean him. Sasuke, however, didn't mind, Naruto's tongue was rather soft. The blond did this more often after such an adventure, and the first time he had done that, Sasuke had asked why. 'It feels good,' had been the answer, and Sasuke had never said anything about it again. He knew the fox in Naruto was doing it. He smiled as Naruto started purring.

Naruto never knew exactly why he did it, and when Sasuke had asked him so, he had just answered truthfully, for he had no other answer to explain it to him. Not once Sasuke had pushed him away, so Naruto knew he liked it.

He came close to Sasuke's closed eye, as he let this just happen, and Naruto softly licked his sleep, slowly going over to his ear. When he reached the ear, Sasuke made an involuntary movement underneath him.

He had just wanted to nibble on his ear, when he heard some movement. He didn't detach himself from Sasuke's ear, but he did stop moving.

Again something was moving.

"Akira?" Sasuke asked softly.

The door opened and indeed the small raven peered around it.

Naruto was still purring, though he was looking up now, just as Sasuke, to look at the small boy.

"What is it, Akira?" Sasuke asked calmly.

"I-I... I had a bad dream." He gripped the door tighter and looked back over his shoulder, as if he expected someone to stand behind him...

Sasuke told him to come in and sit on the bed while he went to the bathroom himself.

"Want to talk about it?" Naruto asked, his purring dying down.

Akira shuddered at the thought of the dream, and shuffled closer to Naruto. "It was scary."

Naruto had no idea what to do, and tried to remember what he'd done when he had a nightmare when he was young; but all he could come up with was crawling back under the blankets and trying not to think about it.

Sasuke came back, seeing Naruto and Akira sitting like that on the bed: Naruto with a face telling him he didn't know how to respond, and Akira needing some comfort.

Sasuke walked over to Akira and picked him up. Immediately Akira put his arms around Sasuke's neck and hugged him tightly.

The raven looked down to Naruto as he stared at him with a small 'o' coming from his mouth. "You go to the toilet," he told Naruto and Naruto looked at him questioningly. He didn't need to go and since when was Sasuke telling him when he should go?

Sasuke pointed to the bathroom again, and then Naruto understood. "No need to make up excuses," he muttered, walking away.

When Naruto walked away, Sasuke sat down on the bed, still holding Akira close to his chest. "You want to talk about it?"

Akira's lip quivered before he started telling. "You and kaa-chan were waiting for me and telling me to hurry." He looked up to Sasuke. "You said it was time to leave, and that I could only bring one toy, but I couldn't choose between Pim-kun and Pom-kun. And then..." he sniffed, "and then you left without me." He gripped Sasuke's shirt. "I was all alone, and I called for you and kaa-chan, but you didn't come back." He took in a ragged breath. "I was afraid and really scared."

"It's alright, we will not leave you alone," Sasuke told him.

Naruto slowly came back, and slipped under the blankets. "You can sleep with us tonight."

Akira slowly nodded.

"I promised you I would protect you, didn't I?" Sasuke's dark eyes looked down onto Akira, who looked up.

"You did," Akira said between two sniffs.

"And you know how Naruto is with promises."

Akira nodded. "It's his nindo." He sniffed again.

"Naruto would kick me if I wouldn't keep my word."

"I sure would."

Akira smiled carefully. "Really?"

"Of course I would. A man is no man if he can't keep his promises."

Akira was silent for a moment, and then slowly let go of Sasuke to crawl under the blankets. Sasuke followed him, and Akira smiled as he lay between Sasuke and Naruto; feeling completely safe.

-oXo-

A/N: For the Dutch readers: yes, the Pim and Pom was an intended reference to 'Jip & Janneke' ;)


	22. Chapter 22: Party!

Time for a funny chapter! Warning: if you can't handle crazy things happening, you better skip this chapter. It contains silliness and unexplained (or even false) accusations and/or hints of couples (only if you want to see them, it's completely your own fault if you do ^^)… Remember this while reading this chapter :p

-oXo-

**Chapter 22: Party!**

_28__th__ of September_

_Sai and Sakura's:_

_Housewarming party_

_28__th__ of September_

_You are invited to come__ around 20:00h_

_There will be a barbeque!_

_SO COME!_

Naruto was staring at the letter in his hand that Sakura had just shoved in that place. He almost wanted to ask where the 'Shanaro' was, but resisted that urge.

"You will come tonight, right? I know it's on a short notice, but we found out almost everyone is around tonight. Nobody has a mission then, that doesn't happen very often," Sakura said excitedly.

"It's okay, we'll come," Naruto smiled.

Sakura walked away and Naruto turned to Sasuke.

"We will?" the raven asked.

"Yes, I feel like going to a party. My arm doesn't hurt anymore, the seal is gone, my team is back in action... need I say more?"

"That does sound like a good reason for a party," Sasuke said as he closed his arms around Naruto's waist.

"You're just saying that because we have to go, otherwise Sakura will surely kill us, making Akira-kun an orphan."

Sasuke grinned. "Maybe." He kissed Naruto, crushing the letter between their bodies.

"What's an orphan?"

Sasuke and Naruto looked down to the small raven.

"A child without parents," Sasuke answered.

Akira blinked. "Why would Sakura oba-san kill you?"

"She wouldn't."

"Then why do you say that?"

"Because we were joking, Akira-kun."

"Can I come too?"

Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other before Naruto shrugged. "It's only a housewarming party."

Sasuke agreed. "Yes, you can come."

"Yay."

-x-

"Drinks are on the table over there, and the barbeque is outside on the small terrace, so you can help yourself," Sakura said as she led Sasuke and Naruto into the living room.

"Nice house, Sakura-chan."

"I'll give you guys a tour later on in the evening; I'm a bit too busy right now."

"Sure," Sasuke said as he and Naruto moved further into the house. From the living room they could look into the small garden, which seemed to me almost nonexistent except for a small terrace, where Shikamaru and Chouji were standing next to the barbeque.

"Hey Naruto, Sasuke." They turned around and stood face to face with Tenten.

"Ah, Tenten."

"Sasuke, how is your chibi doing?"

Sasuke stared at her for a moment. He then pointed outside where Akira stood jumping next to Shikamaru and Chouji. He had immediately begun running through the house when they had entered.

"He looks fine alright," she noted.

"He is," Naruto said.

"He also is getting used to you, and the other way around?" She looked at Sasuke as he still hadn't said anything and so did Naruto.

It took a minute, but eventually Sasuke noticed Naruto really wasn't going to answer for him. "Yes, we're fine." He turned away and walked over to Neji, not to talk, but just to stand there.

Tenten turned her vision to Naruto. "He doesn't like the situation?" she asked concerned.

"That's not it, on the contrary; I think he really likes that Akira is around, but I haven't ever heard him say that to anyone. He doesn't like talking about it to anyone else. You know..."

"He almost never even talks about it to me," Sakura stood beside them. "And only then curt replies about everything being fine."

"You think that's because he's the only parent? I mean, not one of us is married or even thinking about children."

"Yeah," Naruto nodded, "and that he is still so young."

"I think I would too." Tenten thought about it for a moment. "Is he a bit scared or embarrassed?" Tenten asked politely. She could imagine she would be.

"Not scared, at least I don't think he is anymore. Embarrassed? I don't know actually." Naruto stared at Sasuke as his side was turned to them.

"To be honest," Tenten and Sakura turned their visions back to Naruto as they had been looking at Sasuke as well, "I think he's really happy now."

Tenten smiled. "He should be; he's with you, and Akira is a great boy. He's very kind and happy."

"He's a lot like Sasuke, and also so different," Sakura added.

Naruto smiled too. His eyes turned back to Sasuke once more, focussing on the Uchiha symbol on his long white coat as he had turned his back to them.

"I think he's finally ready to forget the past," Naruto suddenly said, not turning his vision away from the symbol.

-x-

"And then we stood under this tower. It was really amazingly high."

"Compared to you everything is big," Sai told him.

"Shut up, Sai," Naruto said annoyed.

Sakura giggled and Sasuke just stood there beside them, looking out of a window or something. Sakura wasn't even sure that he was listening.

"It's because you're so short," Sai said.

"I'm not short," Naruto pouted.

"Hn, you're not only short in length but your penis is very small as well." Sai smirked.

Naruto opened his mouth to retort but unexpectedly closed it again. He bit his lower lip, turned around and walked away.

Sakura's eyebrows rose. "That's weird." She had never seen him react to that like this.

Sai turned to her. "It's because he knows it's true, and because he has all the reference he needs to know that living with him."

"What?"

"Though I must say that compared to Sasuke everyone looks small, both in length _and_ size."

Sakura almost got herself a whiplash as she turned her head to Sai when he said that. Her mouth fell open before she slowly turned her head to Sasuke, who towered far above everyone else visiting in the house. The raven was still staring at Naruto, who had just bumped into Kiba and were now engaged in a conversation, though Kiba seemed a bit annoyed to have had to stop his flirting with Hinata.

Sakura's eyes stared at Sasuke's face, lowered to his chest and his folded arms, to his groin where her vision stayed hanging for a while.

After a moment she was turned around and looked up to Sai, who held her at her upper arms.

"You're regretting your decision to live with me?"

Sakura blinked. "No, of course not!" She hugged him, and a smile, a real smile appeared on Sai's face.

Sasuke suddenly seemed to awaken from his trance as he felt the mood change next to him. He looked around to Sakura and Sai while they were hugging and softly kissing.

He rolled his eyes and decided to get that tour of the house on his own, before there was nothing to show; or at least nothing he wanted to see inside the house. Alcohol was rapidly disappearing from the food-and-drinks-table.

When he passed Tenten and Ino they started giggling hysterically, and Tenten even pointed after him, but he could ignore them.

"Is that all, Naruko?"

"I told you not to call me that!"

Sasuke didn't bother to save Naruto this time, and just walked on, seeing Lee bending over to a small woman with short brown hair; both were red in the face. Her big breasts were almost touching Lee's chest as he was talking to one of Sakura's colleagues from the hospital.

When Sasuke opened the door to the kitchen, however, he almost got a heart attack as he saw his sensei do things with Anko on the kitchen counter he had rather never seen them do in his life.

He quickly slammed the door close, and moved away in the direction of the small dining room, rubbing his eyes. Still trying to get that hellish image from his mind, he walked into the room and saw the probably only two completely sober people in the house chatting amusingly; Iruka and Kurenai.

"Ah, Sasuke, doing a tour of the house?"

"Hn," was his only response, he couldn't say that he had liked what he'd seen until now.

Kurenai continued her conversation with Iruka as she was telling some story about Akane.

"Tou-chan," a happy voice sounded, and Sasuke looked down to Akira as he was playing with Akane on the floor.

"Having fun?"

"We do!" Akane said and Akira smiled.

"We do!" he confirmed.

Sasuke grinned and walked over to Kurenai, whispering to her, "You better not let them get to the rest of the house."

Kurenai smiled. "I won't, but I'll be leaving in a few minutes. I can take Akira with me if you'd like."

Sasuke looked down to his son, who was very excited about something Akane had said. "If you don't mind," he said as he looked back.

"Of course not."

"Thanks." Sasuke turned around and left the room to take a look at the rest of the house, hoping it would only get better. He could still hear Iruka and Kurenai talk.

"I'll take you home."

"Oh, that's not necessary."

"But I'll be going in the same direction anyway."

"Thanks Iruka."

Sasuke snorted as he walked down the small hall.

In the mean time, back in the living room, Tenten and Ino had now drunken enough to be dancing on the table, Sai and Sakura were making out on the couch, and Kiba was back to his flirting with Hinata as she blushed and giggled at everything he said to her.

Neji was being pestered by one of Sakura's male colleagues, who seemed to think he was a girl, or just really liked his hair, twirling it around his fingers. Strangely enough Neji hadn't Kaiten'ed him away yet.

Naruto was standing in a corner, sake in hand, scowling as he watched Ino and Tenten dance; reminding himself he was _not_ a girl, while he was comparing himself with them.

Lee seemed to be doing great as he was showing his muscles to some willing ladies. And nobody seemed to notice the moans coming from the kitchen, but also nobody dared to get near it.

And so the evening became night as the housewarming party had seemed to get a little out of hand.

Sakura woke up, and was glad she was lying in her own soft bed. She looked down as she felt an arm draped around her, she seemed to be naked. Slowly she followed the arm to the owner, and smiled at Sai as he still seemed to be in a coma.

Slowly she moved away from Sai and sat up on the bed. That hadn't been a good idea as her head started buzzing. She had been drinking a bit too much, probably like everyone else. Apparently because it didn't happen for everyone to have nothing to do and all being together, had been an extra stimulus to go all out.

She stood up and got dressed, glad she had cancelled her hospital shift from that day, as she had thought to need it to clean up the house. How right she would be.

It started when she got into the bathroom where she and Sai seemed to have had a nice time, though she could not remember much of it. After cleaning it up a bit, and cleaning herself to wake up some more, she moved on.

Everywhere litter was wandering around the house, both not living and alive. She found Chouji in the kitchen resting against the fridge. The rest of her kitchen counter seemed a mess, and she had no idea what had happened there. (She was better off not knowing anyway).

So she took out a broom, a bucket and water, some garbage bags, gave one to Chouji, and started cleaning the house. On her way she found some more stray people, Ino lying on top of Tenten behind the couch (both looking awfully satisfied before Sakura woke them up), and a male co-worker lost in the cupboard under the stairs. After waking them up, getting angry looks as headaches seemed to be present with them as well, she gave them some cleaning materials, and told them to hurry it up. It was already 11:00, and she had no intention of wanting those people in the house for much longer.

So she ordered each of them what to do and they started cleaning. Empty sake bottles scattered the place and some other things Sakura rather didn't touch with her bare hands.

After a while Ino shrieked as she had believed to have found some living barf behind a potted plant. Chouji had bravely intervened, and cleaned the smelly contents of the unknown person after reassuring Ino it certainly was dead.

Then another scream was heard, coming from above. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

-o-o-o-

It was rather chilly inside, Hinata thought, even though the sun was shining inside the room as she was listening to the Hokage and her father talk, and she wrapped her Kimono more tightly around her not too small bosom. She sniffed the nice wood smell of this special room, where she had memories of her father and mother being in conversation with the Sandaime Hokage. She liked this room.

She had no problem following the conversation that was going on at all, until Neji coughed, or seemed to cough. Hinata knew it had not been a real cough. He seemed a bit unfocussed now that she looked at him out of the corners of her eyes as she leaned a bit forward to look around her father.

Hinata had been a bit surprised when her father had come to her in the morning, and had told her he wanted her to attend a meeting with the Hokage along with him and Neji. She was happy actually that her father was acknowledging her more and more, as he came to see her strength and as he accepted Neji.

Neji had completely changed his attitude towards her from cold to warm. He'd become her older brother; he protected her and had taken care of her when she had been ill two weeks ago. She couldn't help but smile when she thought of that. Over the years he had gone from trying to kill her, to protect her.

Her father asked her something, and she answered to what she thought was right. She stuttered only a little in the beginning. She could see her father was happy she was able to answer to his liking.

She looked over to Neji again, and saw he wasn't listening at all as her father took over the conversation again. Neji was wearing, just like her father, a black haori which she really thought looked good on him.

She had seen him having fun with that guy and his female friend last night. She had been a bit surprised, but she was glad Neji had opened up -even just a little- to someone.

And still he'd been able to keep a protective eye on her as well that evening, because when Kiba was making an advance on her (one of the first that evening), he came to her and said he needed to talk with her for a bit. Kiba had been really disappointed, and Hinata quite curious as to what Neji had to say. It appeared to be nothing really. 'Are you sure he is the guy you want?' he'd asked. Hinata had blushed and uncomfortably looked up into his eyes. She had kindly told him that if Kiba wanted to flirt with her, she would let him, and that Neji had nothing to say about it. She had also said she had no feelings for Kiba (yet), and just wanted to see where this was going; if Kiba was serious or just drunk.

Neji had looked a bit dumbfounded at first, well not really had looked like that, but Hinata could tell he was. He'd let her be the rest of the evening, but she had noticed him look at her and Kiba every so often just to be sure she was alright.

At first she hadn't really appreciated Kiba's flirting, as it had been rough and seemed like he just wanted to impress the guys or something, but as the time went by she had noticed the look on Kiba's face when Naruto had interfered with his conversation with her. He'd not been happy at all and seemed quite disappointed.

So when Naruto had walked away from Kiba, she had made the decision to get back to him. From then on she had actually liked where things had been going. Kiba was calmer and more like himself. She almost blushed at the memory of Kiba gripping her hand. He'd been so gentle. Kiba had finally showed his real self to her, the self she had known him to be all along. It was a bit of a shame he had needed alcohol and a party to show himself to her like that, but it had been a start.

Neji sighed and Hinata looked over to him again. Now that she thought about it, he had been quite bothered about something since the first time she had seen him today. He really seemed out of it.

She directed her eyes back to the Hokage, as her big cleavage rose when she took in a deep breath.

Hinata's mind then jumped to Naruto. When she had found out about Naruto and Sasuke being together, she had been really sad for a while, not having seen this coming (no one had), but she knew she hadn't been the only one affected by that change. Kiba as well.

Of course he had not been affected in the way she had been, and not really life changing; she was sure he wasn't even aware of it himself, but she'd seen it. Kiba made fun of it, Sasuke having turned Naruto gay or the other way around, and Naruto being a girl and all, but Hinata knew that deep inside it was because he longed for something like that as well. Not a man to love, but a woman, someone he could be around with.

Hinata was quite flattered he had come to believe she could be that person to him; to live a life with, grow a family and love. She couldn't quite picture herself in such a position yet. She liked to take things easy and calmly; let the moment come by itself, grown from the experience they've shared.

She didn't love Kiba, but she liked him. She liked Shino too, but in a different way, so she thought. She wasn't sure, but she would like to explore more of this.

She couldn't picture herself having a family with Kiba, or with anyone else for that matter, but she liked the idea to find out what else could happen, what it would be if they got together.

Other memories appeared in her mind, and she really did start to blush red, bright red. Lucky for her, her father was just praising her, so it went unnoticed to her surroundings. If they only knew what she was really thinking about.

-o-o-o-

Kiba opened his eyes, and it took him quite a while to be able to focus. He needed another fifteen minutes to decide he didn't recognize the room he was in. He was in a bed, so that seemed okay. A headache made itself known, making him scrunch up his eyes, moaning in pain.

"Not again," he groaned softly.

Then he remembered a bit of last night; not really images, but more feelings. He'd had fun, he thought; had felt good. He smiled, that could only mean one thing. His flirting had worked, he slowly turned around onto his left, tried to ignore the pain in his lower back, but to his horror it wasn't Hinata lying beside him.

His mouth hung open and he couldn't say a word from pure shock; especially when it dawned on him why his ass hurt so much.

"No, no, no," he muttered softly as he backed away.

The man next to him moaned, and moved his arm into a better position.

"No, no, no," Kiba was still in denial as he remembered last night.

"_Kiba!"_

_Kiba looked aroun__d annoyed, as he was again interrupted in his flirtations. Hinata blushed as she was grasped at the shoulder by Ino and pulled back to the newly formed dance floor on the dining table._

"_What?" Kiba growled, turning back to an empty space where Hinata had __been just a second ago."Hinata?"_

"_I-I just want to say that I'm not a girl!"_

_Kiba sighed in annoyance. Not again. "Sure, sure, I believe you. Now go away," Kiba looked around and found Hinata on the table._

"_You'll never get her," Shino suddenly said from h__is left, making Kiba almost jump a meter into the air._

"_Shino, you almost gave me a heart attack. I didn't even know you were here." This seemed to upset Shino greatly._

_A hand grasped Kiba's shoulder and he was turned around._

"_I'll show you I'm no girl!" N__aruto almost yelled at him and he started kissing Kiba._

_Kiba pushed him away, swaying a bit from the alcohol. "Whoa!"_

_Shino suddenly folded his arm around Kiba's shoulder and looked at him. "I thought we were friends. I really like you and then you do this__ to me. Why?"_

_Kiba got red in the face at all the attention he suddenly got from all the wrong persons in this room._

"_Ne, Kiba!" Naruto whined._

"_Kiba," Shino said with a deep calm voice._

After that he didn't remember much, but seeing that guy in the bed wasn't a good sign. He could almost cry. Why was _he_ lying in the bed beside him?

-o-o-o-

Lee was in an abnormally good mood, even better than normal. He had to thank his youthfulness for it, and so he was telling Gai this. Gai agreed.

Yesterday night Lee had returned home with three lovely ladies, one taken from the party, two he'd found on his way home, friends of the first one. He hadn't touched the forbidden liquor all night, which he couldn't say about the rest of his friends...

The ladies had stayed the night, which had been magical and very romantic. The next morning Lee had politely offered his lady friends to bring them home, but only one had accepted.

On his way back home he ran into Gai as he was in a small dango shop, and so Lee joined him, telling all the wonders that had happened very proudly to his sensei. Gai was proud of him, and had tears of joy and deep affection of Lee's wonderful actions in his eyes. They had even hugged a few times, and finally Gai had told him that he couldn't put into words how proud he was.

Lee was speechless at that, as was his sensei.

-o-o-o-

Kiba was beginning to panic. This wasn't good; he was in bed with a guy... a guy! And it was Naruto! It became even worse when he thought about what Sasuke would do to him when he would find out about this.

Fortunately for him, he'd been drunk before, and over time he'd learned to use his brains in such situations, how hard it may be. So he took a few deep breaths and tried to think.

He would slowly and very quietly leave the bed, get dressed and leave the room. Naruto would never know, no one would ever know, and especially Sasuke would never know. Yes, that seemed like a perfect plan. The only thing he had to do was find out if he was in Naruto's bedroom and thus had a chance of running into Sasuke, or was still at Sakura's place. Either way he had to get out of the room first.

He slowly turned around and let himself slide onto the floor in a quest to find his boxers. He crawled around the floor, searching the scattered pieces of clothing, and picked up his own as he found some. He picked up another pair of pants that wasn't his...

Wait a minute, _another_?

-o-o-o-

He felt nice and warm as he lay in bed, not really waking up yet. He didn't want to wake up yet; the bed felt good.

Naruto tried to reach over for Sasuke, but couldn't find him. He did feel a warm place in the bed; Sasuke must have left the bed already, probably going for the toilet, Naruto thought as a grin almost made its way on his face, but he was just too tired to make it happen.

He spread his arm a bit further over to the warm spot in the bed, and moved a bit closer to it. He wanted to lie as close to Sasuke as possible when he got back in the bed.

His brain was already starting to give out as he was falling back to sleep again.

-o-o-o-

Mumbling in his sleep, Sasuke turned over onto his left side. He reached a bit around him, but only cold met him. Where was Naruto? His foggy brain didn't let him think more clearly, other than stating that Naruto wasn't there. He missed Naruto's warm body, covering him.

He scrunched up his eyes as a tree moved outside in the wind, and let some light fall onto his closed eyes through the window. He grunted softly.

He hoped Naruto would be in bed with him soon; he was cold and had a starting headache. Naruto wouldn't take that long to get back from the toilet, would he? Sasuke groped again for Naruto and only met the cold of the bed.

He would sleep, and when he would wake up, Naruto would be lying on top of him.

-o-o-o-

"S'ke," Naruto mumbled as he felt an arms snake its way underneath him. It came from the other side then he had expected Sasuke would be, but who cares. He moved so Sasuke's arm could grip around his waist and spread his arm onto the empty space in the bed.

If he had been more awake he would have climbed up Sasuke's chest, as for now he just turned his head to Sasuke. He smelled a bit different; alcohol and something else he couldn't quite place. The usual lavender smell wasn't there.

He reached over to Sasuke's head, letting his hand glide through his dark hair.

-o-o-o-

Kiba slowly began to hyperventilate. "No, no, no, no." This couldn't be true!

He looked around again, really starting to freak out now as he indeed saw three different kinds of sandals scattered around. When he crawled some more, he found a third pair of boxers. He froze in his tracks. What had happened last night?

Did he dare to look up onto the bed and find out? He suddenly felt like a coward, but with good reason. He shook his head, grabbed his shirt, and crawled back. No, it might be better not to know. What you didn't know wouldn't hurt. Plus he could pretend it had only been Naruto, that was already bad enough, but he could handle that. The guy liked Sasuke after all, and they had been drunk...

He took a deep, ragged breath as he tried to calm down some before he slowly tried to pull on his clothes without standing up, which wasn't very easy with a gigantic headache. So when he hadn't been able to get his legs into his pants in a right way after the tenth try, he couldn't deny any longer that he really needed to get up, or leave the room without it. But as an angry Sasuke hunting him flashed his mind, he rather had his pants on in that image than running around without it.

He sat up, slowly raised himself onto the bed, without looking at the people lying in it, and tried to pull on his pants as pains shot up his back.

Suddenly a thought occurred to him. What if the third person was Hinata? Wouldn't that make everything alright? He would have shared a bed with a woman, had a threesome and could face the day. That didn't sound so bad after all. And now that he thought about it, that didn't seem so strange at all.

_Kiba was being pushed onto the bed, face down as a lonely hand moved up his back until it reached t__he string of his boxers, wanting to pull it down. The door opened, and Kiba tried to look up at the intruder._

"_I'm sorry," a voice muttered softly, and slowly stepped away from the door._

"_No, wait, you can join us."_

Kiba became red in the face, a smile appearing on it. He grinned, and filled with confidence and pride, he turned around to face the last occupant in the bed.

His heart stopped beating and he couldn't breathe.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

-oXo-

A/N: I was in a crazy mood when I wrote this and most importantly I was ill; need I say more? (And again, don't think too much about it) ^^

Due to very, _very_, VERY limited access to the internet :(, updates might be a bit irregular the coming week(s).


	23. Chapter 23: The day after

Internetlessness is over! Yay! Thank you MS3923 for beta-ing!

Ah, yes, of course the same warning for last chapter is still valid here: this chapter contains the other half of silliness that the other chapter missed. ^^

-oXo-

**Chapter 23: The day after**

_29__th__ of September_

_Kiba became red in the face and a smile appeared on his face. He grinned, and filled with confidence and pride, he turned around to face the last occupant in the bed._

_His heart stopped beating and he couldn't breathe. This was the last person he'd expected to find in the bed._

"_NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"_

Immediately two pairs of eyes opened. Naruto pressed his hand over his fox ears; the other person groaned, and placed his one free hand on his head as he had a headache as well, while the other hand was still restricted underneath Naruto.

"What the hell, Kiba!" an angry voice sounded as he and Naruto sat up.

Horror was shown on Kiba's face. "Sasuke!" Kiba said and was frozen in place.

"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked as he looked around, until he noticed he wasn't in his own bed. "Oh." He became red, and turned away from Kiba as he noticed another embarrassing thing, to bury his face in Sasuke's bare chest.

Sasuke had some more trouble to come to the same conclusion Naruto had, as his headache prevented him from thinking clearly, but eventually he noticed they were not in a room where they should be.

"We're in Sakura's guestroom," he stated, as Kiba was still frozen and appeared to be unable to produce any sound. Then his eyes lowered down Kiba and stayed hanging on his still open pants, showing boxers with small dog bones covering it.

A flash showed itself to Sasuke, and he saw himself standing in the doorway to this room as he found Naruto sitting on top of Kiba while he was fingering the string of his boxers... those boxers.

"_I'm sorry," he said, stunned at the sight as his mind tried to catch up to it. The image seemed wrong, but his mind had trouble to understand what it was, and he took a step back._

"_No, wait, you can join us," Naruto said, and Sasuke slowly turned back, getting into the room._

Sasuke gasped. "KIBA!" his voice thundered through the room, and Kiba turned around with a speed he himself didn't know he possessed, opened the door and ran away.

Downstairs all Sakura, Ino, Tenten, Chouji and the other guy could see was a blur of black.

"Who was that?" Sakura asked as her brain, which didn't work correctly anyway, tried to process what she might have seen.

"It seemed almost like... and that voice..." Chouji muttered as he ate some chips he'd found in a bowl.

Upstairs Sai had not been able to get back to sleep after the first scream, and was now sitting up straight as he had heard another scream. He muttered and asked himself what had happened. Could Sakura have fallen down the stairs and was calling for him, having broken bones and lying in a position only dead people could?

He slowly got out of bed, got himself dressed and walked into the hall. The door to the guestroom was open so he hobbled over to it.

"Come on, 'ke!" he heard someone whisper urgently, followed by a soft thud.

As he opened the door and stood in the door frame, he saw Naruto as he froze in the windowsill, obviously trying to sneak out. He didn't even turn around, and Sai just blinked. When the blink was over he saw a foxtail disappear. He shrugged.

He turned around and slowly made his way downstairs.

-o-o-o-

Neji sat dully staring into space. His uncle was neatly dressed -as was he-, and sat very straight -Neji wasn't able to come to his usual standard of straightness- looking very serious. Neji couldn't really focus what his uncle was telling to the Hokage, only bits and pieces. He was trying though.

He glanced over to Hinata, who looked similar to him, though somehow a little more refreshed; something only woman could do so early in the morning. They had gone home together at 4:30 in the morning. At 8:00 the Hokage had been in front of the Hyuuga compound. It hadn't been enough sleep, not when you have drunken a little bit more than should have. Neji believed both he and Hinata had been a bit tipsy as they had been walking home, moving from one side of the road to the other, holding each other up.

Though Neji was long glad that they both hadn't come to drink nearly as much as some other people; he wouldn't call any names.

He remembered this guy from Sakura's work. _What was his name again... Hito-... Hitori... no that wasn't it. Hitomi... no that's a woman's name, the girl walking in with the guy was called that. Then what was the guy's name?_

Suddenly Neji realised that his mind was wondering around, while he should pay attention to the Hokage.

"- it to be of importance you will. That would certainly improve the security of-"

_Yuuta! Yes, that had been his name._ Neji grinned, and suddenly realised he should not. Immediately he made a cough out of his mistake. His uncle glanced at him while Neji sat up straight again and stared intently to the Hokage, like he was listening.

"I have agreed with that. Yuuta will take care of it, he's-"

_What? What did he say about Yuuta?_ Neji was in a slight panic, on the inside of course (on the outside Neji was a cool as a cucumber), as he tried to listen to what his uncle was saying.

"-he's already been in Kumo for about three weeks now, and is making good progress-"

Neji sighed, he remembered again. Yuuta was some Hyuuga, around his forties, on a mission to establish new contacts in Kumo. It had just been a coincidence of names. He should really get his head into the right place.

-o-o-o-

Somewhere on the streets of Konoha, Naruto was dragging Sasuke home.

"Come on, Sasuke~," he muttered as he put his full weight against the raven to get him to walk faster.

"What just happened?" Sasuke asked slowly as he rubbed his fingers over the bridge of his nose.

"We'll talk about it when we get home, now come on and walk a bit faster." Why couldn't he get Sasuke to move? He was putting all his weight into it.

Sasuke stopped, while Naruto comically kept pushing without any effect.

"Did you just push me out of the window of Sakura's new house?"

"Yes, can you start walking?"

Sasuke slowly took a step, making Naruto fall flat on his face. "Itai~"

"What are you two doing?"

Naruto looked up as he rubbed his nose. Sasuke just kept walking home. "Just taking a walk?"

Tsunade glared down at him. "It seemed Sakura's housewarming party was quite the party, wasn't it?"

"Why would you say that?" Naruto asked, trying to sound innocent as he brushed off his pants.

"I just saw Neji and Hinata at the Hyuuga compound, and they didn't seem... quite awake," Tsunade looked at Naruto as a grin spread over his face.

"Yes, it was quite a party, you should have come. You missed out on a lot of sake, hèhè," Naruto laughed uncomfortably.

"You seem quite sober." Tsunade's eyes narrowed.

"Ahaha, you think?" He in fact was; his hang-over had actually never made itself present, while he had certainly been drunk alright.

"I think I'll pay Sakura a visit later on today, and take a tour through her house."

"Good idea, baa-chan. Especially the living room is nice and big." Naruto grinned. "I'm sorry, have to catch Sasuke before he gets run over by a grandma or something. Bye."

Tsunade looked at him as he jogged to Sasuke, catching his arm to guide him in the right direction_. Wow, the Uchiha was really out of it_. Tsunade grinned. What a party it must have been.

"Sasuke?" Naruto suddenly remembered something. "Where's Akira-kun?"

"Who?" Sasuke asked as he frowned, and turned his head to Naruto.

"Your son, teme."

Sasuke frown deepened as he seemed to think.

"You know, the smaller version of yo-"

"I know who you're talking about!" Sasuke grumbled.

"Good, at least your brain damage seems to be within normal limits."

"You don't have a hangover, do you?"

"No. But where's Akira-kun?"

"With Kurenai."

"Ah, good." Naruto looked up to Sasuke. "You're sure, right?"

"Yes."

"Good."

They finally got home, and Sasuke went straight to bed. Naruto hadn't dared to talk about what had happened yet, and Sasuke didn't really seem to be able to have a conversation anyway.

So Naruto decided to pick Akira up himself, and buy some groceries as he was at it. Kurenai was quite surprised he seemed so sober, and less surprised to find out everyone else wasn't.

"So it was a nice party then?"

"I believe so."

Kurenai narrowed her eyes.

"Akira-kun, Naruto is here to pick you up," Kurenai called into her apartment.

Akira and Akane came running to them. Akira politely thanked Kurenai for the sleep over, and waved goodbye to Akane.

"Bye Akane-chan!" he said to his friend as he grasped Naruto's empty sleeve.

"Come by soon, Akira-kun!" she called back.

"Where's tou-chan?" Akira asked as Naruto and he walked down the street.

"He's a bit... ah... he didn't feel so well, so he got back to bed."

"Ah, so."

"We need to get some groceries before we get home."

"Okay," Akira said happily.

As they were carrying the small bag of groceries back home, Akira holding one side, though he wasn't carrying anything, since Naruto did that. He suddenly stopped and looked up to Naruto.

"I didn't say thank you to oba-san yet for yesterday evening."

"So?"

"We went home through the back door, and Kurenai-san said it was okay to say thank you later."

Naruto still didn't see the problem.

"I want to do now, can I?"

"Er..." Naruto quickly thought things over before deciding only Sai had seen him get out of the window (and hadn't been so sober, so that might not be a problem), and probably no one else knew what had happened, so he thought it might be safe. Plus he had Akira with him, so they couldn't really say or do anything to him anyway. "Okay."

Akira smiled, dragging the bag and Naruto with it, to Sakura's house. Naruto smiled as the boy seemed so motivated to be so polite. He would never have bothered about such things.

When they arrived at Sakura's place, they were still busy cleaning.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto called as he opened the door.

"In here!"

Naruto and Akira pulled off their sandals and walked into the living room, which was very clean.

"Oba-san!" Akira ran to Sakura and wanted to hug her, but she pushed him away politely.

"I'm a bit dirty Akira-kun."

"Okay." He looked up to her. "I wanted to thank you for that we could stay."

Sakura blinked once before she understood what he had said or had tried to say. "That's okay."

Akira smiled and ran to Naruto. He grasped his sleeve and ran around him in circles. Naruto moved with him to not get tied up. The others looked at him like they were already getting dizzy themselves, just from watching.

"Akira-kun."

Akira stopped and smiled. Naruto straightened up and looked at the others.

"Haha, major hangovers, haven't you?" he laughed. It earned him some angry glares.

"You obviously haven't. Damn you and that fox," Ino muttered.

"But you must have been drinking quite a bit, as I remember you were pretty drunk yourself," Sakura said.

Naruto shrugged. "Don't remember much."

"So he did."

"I envy you," Tenten said as she rubbed her poor head.

"That would be a first."

-x-

Naruto was lying on the couch as his arm was hurting again. He grinded his teeth and closed his eyes. Why was it still hurting? He thought it had been over.

Akira was watching him worriedly, not knowing what to do as he didn't dare to touch Naruto. When animals were in pain, you shouldn't touch them after all.

"Can I-? Can I get you something, Naruto?" he asked softly.

"No, it's alright. You go and play in your room. Don't worry about me."

Akira looked at him, but didn't move.

"You don't want to play?" Naruto asked as he flinched.

"I do, but-"

"Go, I'll come upstairs and play with you when I feel better, okay?"

A small smile appeared on Akira's face. "Okay." He stood up, but before he walked up the stairs, he looked at Naruto one more time, and then was gone.

Naruto sighed, followed by a groan. Another groan was heard, but this one belonged to a deeper voice. Sasuke walked into the room, holding his head. He looked up to Naruto, seeing him lying on the couch.

"Does it hurt again?"

"No, not really, just a little cramp," Naruto said lightly.

Sasuke looked at him for a moment, but his head was thumping, and he didn't feel like discussing it. He looked around. "Where's Akira?"

"Upstairs; playing in his room. You must have past him on the stairs." Naruto stared at him, pulling his legs up so Sasuke could sit on the couch as well, but Sasuke lifted him up, sat down and laid him back on his lap.

"Hn."

They stayed there sitting like that until the pain in Naruto's shoulder had slowly gone. Sasuke remembered his talk with Tsunade from a week ago.

_Sasuke took a breath and looked down to Tsunade with a serious face. "I just wanted to ask you one thing."_

_Tsunade was interested now; what was making the Uchiha so nervous? She patiently waited for Sasuke to speak, but she didn't need waiting long._

"_I was just..." he stopped; he wasn't sure if he should ask her._

_Tsunade gently motioned for him to go on._

"_I was just wondering what you think is going on with Naruto's arm."_

_Tsunade stared at him. He must be concerned about it if he was asking her._

"_I'm not sure, he told me it didn't feel like a normal pain like when it was closing. He said to me in the exact words 'it feels like the pain is deeper'. I couldn't find anything wrong, so I told him it might be stress." Sasuke nodded. Naruto hadn't wanted to talk about it to him. "Yesterday when he was here I asked him again, and he said he was alright; that it was over."_

"_Yes, he tries to hide it, but I can see it's not over; though it is not as bad as before." Sasuke fell silent for a moment. "I'm worried about it."_

"_Why?"_

"_It feels like somehow it might be Kyuubi's doing."_

"_But he is tightly sealed away; you've seen it, haven't you?"_

"_Yes, I know. That's why I'm worried." _

Naruto looked up to Sasuke. "You feeling better?"

Sasuke's thoughts were shoved aside, and he lowered his head so he could look back to Naruto to answer him. "Headache, but who hasn't."

Naruto grinned. Silence fell, an uncomfortable silence.

"Do you... do you remember anything?" Sasuke asked as he looked outside, a slightest hint of pink in his face.

"I do, actually." Naruto sighed as Sasuke looked down at him, looking questioningly. "Bits and pieces, but still way too much."

"How come?"

"Well, at first I didn't, but slowly during the day I remembered some more." Naruto blushed a deep red, and tried to turn his head away from Sasuke.

"You care to enlighten me, since I already know I was part of it." Sasuke almost growled at the thought what Kiba had to do with it. "I'm going to kill him," he growled softly.

Naruto's head instantly turned a darker shade of red. "I feel so stupid."

"You're not the only one. What did we do in the bed?" Sasuke decided to cut to the chase.

"Well, uhm..." Naruto took a deep breath and sat upright, his back still to Sasuke. "W-what I remember is this." He took another deep breath and closed his eyes. "Sai insulted me about my shortness, and I suddenly er... was very deeply insulted."

Sasuke nodded. "I remember; you went over to Kiba."

"He told me how much I do look like a woman and all kinds of other related stuff..."

"I understand," Sasuke urged him to go on.

"I'm not sure why, but let's keep it to the alcohol, shall we?"

"Sure."

"I er, I wanted to show Kiba I wasn't a woman at all. So I think I kissed him," Naruto ended in a small voice, sounding very embarrassed.

Sasuke didn't respond.

"I actually think Shino made some advances as well, or they sort of looked like it, and I... we... Grah," Naruto let out a frustrated sigh. "All I remember next is, me dragging Kiba down the hall. I kissed him some more, and he then pulled me upstairs into the guestroom saying something like 'show me you're really not a girl'." Naruto's voice was shivering so much now, that he was a bit amazed he was still able to produce understandable language.

Sasuke was awfully quiet and not moving at all. Naruto could practically feel the anger radiate from him.

"W-what were you d-doing upstairs anyway?" Naruto stuttered, unable to control his voice any longer.

Sasuke grumbled something, before he spoke up. "I was taking myself on a tour through the house, and I think I met Chouji in the garden at a certain moment, we drank some sake as he barbequed, and talked to Shikamaru."

"Oh."

"Suddenly I realized I hadn't finished my tour and left to continue it."

"And then you walked in on us..."

"Yes," Sasuke was turning pink as well.

"I'm really sorry Sasuke."

"So am I. I didn't stop you."

"No, you joined me."

Sasuke froze, and Naruto felt that. Slowly words were forming again, coming from Sasuke's mouth. "Who... who... did... who?"

"I really don't know." Naruto could kill himself, and buried his face in his knees, his arm covering up around him.

"Naruto," Sasuke sounded eerily monotonous, "please don't tell me..."

Silence fell once more.

"I honestly don't know," Naruto was able to say in such a sad voice Sasuke actually thought he was crying. This wasn't true, but Naruto really was ashamed. "I'm so sorry for pulling you into this."

"Hn." Sasuke couldn't take this anymore, stood up and went to the kitchen; Naruto went upstairs.

-x-

A shiver ran down Kiba's spine, and he sneezed. Akamaru was lying beside him, and looked up to his friend as he lay on the couch. He whined a bit, getting Kiba's attention.

"I'm fine," Kiba said, "more or less." He turned on his stomach and growled. "I can't believe what I have done."

Akamaru laid his head on the couch, pushing his nose into Kiba's arm.

"No, it's worse." Akamaru whined. "Yes, worse than that."

Akamaru licked his hand.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Hmmmm," was the sad sound coming from the big dog.

The door to his room opened loudly, and a woman came stomping inside.

"Ma~," Kiba whined, "Can't you be a bit more quiet? And knock first?"

"You've been drunk again?" she asked as she watched how pathetically Kiba lay on the couch, like a... well, like a drunk.

"I told you about the new house Sakura and Sai-"

"Yes, you did." Tsume sighed, shaking her head. "Well, since you're like this, I probably better ask someone else to deliver this." She held up a package.

"Hm," Kiba buried his head into the pillow.

"You know where Hana is?"

"Do I look like I know?" came the muffled reply.

"Hm. I told you to not overdo it!" Tsume turned around, closing the door, not too softly.

"Hng," Kiba groaned. "Evil woman."

Akamaru licked his ear. Kiba swatted him away. "All right, all right, I'll tell. But if you ever breathe a word about it to anyone..."

Akamaru understood.

-x-

They hadn't spoken to each other the rest of the day, not a word until they were in bed. Sasuke couldn't help himself as he stared out the window. "You think Kiba remembers?"

"With the amount he had been drinking?" Naruto immediately knew what he was talking about since he had been thinking about the same. "Not much, but he sure knows he was lying in a bed with us. He must be terrified of what you'll do to him." Naruto grinned awkwardly as he looked at the ceiling.

Then he turned to Sasuke and hugged him. "Let's never do anything like that ever again."

Sasuke folded his own arms around Naruto. "Agreed."

"Just try to forget it all."

"We don't know half of what happened."

"Makes things only easier, ne?" Naruto nuzzled Sasuke's hair. "You smell right again."

Sasuke didn't respond, trying to clear his mind.

-x-

Kiba was now lying on his bed, his hand covering his eyes as he tried to ease the pain in his lower back, shifting on the bed for a comfortable position to lie in.

Akamaru barked softly as he lay at Kiba's feet on the bed.

"No, I told you I don't remember much about the whole evening," Kiba said grumpily.

"Hmmm."

"So I don't know who it was. I just know what Naruto did to me, and I returned it to someone..." A tear formed in his eye. "Please don't let it be Sasuke." He so wanted to cry.

Some stomping came from down the hall.

"Sleep," Kiba said softly to his dog, and turned on his side, away from the door.

The door opened and a head appeared. Hana saw it was dark and that Kiba was lying in his bed. In combination with his hangover from today she concluded he was asleep. She closed the door again.

Kiba waited till he heard another door open and close.

"Akamaru, don't ever let me drink again."

-oXo-

Next: On with 'normal' life!


	24. Chapter 24: The truth

So, on with a more normal chapter (for as far as my story is normal ^^) and you might have noticed I'm not putting the disclaimer on top anymore... I got lazy, but I guess no one will care if I put it there or not.

-oXo-

**Chapter 24: The truth**

_1__st__ of September_

Leaning against one of the wooden posts, Naruto watched his team struggle to make a bunshin. In the beginning he had taught them the technique, but only Kenji was able to make one clone. So Naruto thought, now that they had more experience and better chakra control, that it was time to try again.

"Eri-chan?" She looked up. "You can open your eyes when you perform the jutsu," he smiled.

"Oh." She looked away, blushing.

His shoulder itched, and he scratched carefully through the fabric of his sweater. It had been itching all morning, but scratching actually hurt, so he had to do it carefully.

"Kenji, try to split your chakra in three equal parts."

Kenji looked up to him, huffed and turned a quarter, but Naruto noticed he was still trying it.

"Naruto-sensei, how were you ever able to perform this technique after graduating?" Eri asked as a feeble Eri was lying beside her.

"Ha, actually it's a somewhat funny story, but I have never been able to produce a normal Bunshin."

"What?"

"Yeah, and I failed my graduation exam three times because of it."

Kenji raised an eyebrow, not believing he had such a dunce for a sensei. "You couldn't even make a Bunshin?" he asked.

"Nope, not even if my life depended on it. And I still can't."

"That's just..." Kenji stared.

"I actually learned the Kage Bunshin, and that is how I graduated."

Eri's mouth hung open wide, Ryomaru was fiddling with his fingers, and Kenji still couldn't believe it.

"Why, sensei? Is your c-chakra control that b-bad?" Ryomaru asked carefully.

"It's certainly not that great," Naruto grinned. "I just have lots of chakra, so I can waste some."

"Really?"

Naruto nodded.

"That must be a lot then. How's that possible?" Eri asked to herself, not really noticing she was softly talking out loud; her hand rested on her chin.

"Yes, how _is_ that possible?" Kenji asked, very curious now as well, though he looked more like he was frowning.

"Eek," Eri came to the conclusion she had been talking out loud, but looked up to Naruto nonetheless.

"Who knows?" Naruto said as he held up his hand and shrugged. He flinched as the shrugging hadn't been such a good idea.

"Are you all right, Naruto-sensei?" Ryomaru asked.

"Ah, fine, just a stiff shoulder."

Ryomaru looked a bit worried, but Naruto ignored it.

"So, I still don't see any clones." Naruto knew even Eri and Ryomaru had to be able to make at least one Bunshin.

"Hai, Naruto-sensei."

Ryomaru was very close now. His chakra was precisely divided in two, but he was keeping it a bit too long before he thought it was good enough, and lost the timing.

"Ryomaru, it doesn't have to be divided that precisely. Do the jutsu a bit faster, you're almost there."

Ryomaru became red, and looked down at his hands as they formed a cross.

"H-hai." And then he did it. "Kage Bunshin no jutsu." Two Ryomaru's were standing next to each other.

Eri clapped. "Bravo." Both Ryomarus' blushed.

"Hmpf." Kenji went on with concentrating on his own work.

Suddenly Naruto doubled over. "Aah." He grabbed his shoulder as a stab of pain went through it.

"Sensei?"

It hadn't hurt this much since it had been cut off. Naruto fell on his knees, unable to stay standing.

"Sensei!" All three (at the moment four) genins came running to him.

Naruto grinded his teeth, and couldn't help himself as he loudly growled.

Eri took a step back when she heard the sound. Ryomaru, the real one, stepped forward and let his hands hover over Naruto's shoulder.

"Ah!"

"Why is it hurting?" Eri asked Ryomaru carefully.

"I don't know." He, together with his Bunshin, helped Naruto sit back against the wooden pole, and opened his green vest, taking it off and tried to open his shirt, but Naruto growled again and gave a spasm in pain.

Kenji stepped forward and held Naruto still. "Do it, Ryomaru."

Ryomaru ripped open the shirt and let his hands glow up once more. His bunshin disappeared.

Sweat was dripping down Naruto's face, and he had his eyes closed in pain. Kenji was beginning to worry now. What was going on? He had noticed their sensei had a pretty high threshold for pain.

"Sensei?" he asked Naruto. "What is happening?"

"I-"

"Oh my-" Ryomaru pulled his hand back, and Eri and Kenji looked at him.

"What is it?" Eri asked.

"Look!" Ryomaru pointed to the middle of the wound.

Slowly bone was becoming visible, growing through the flesh.

"Aargh!"

"Eri!"

Eri kneeled down beside Kenji and helped him keep Naruto still.

"I don't know what to do? I've never seen this happen before," Ryomaru said, sounding lost.

"Try to help it heal or something, or ease the pain. Whatever."

Ryomaru nodded to Kenji and tried just that.

"Hng." Naruto turned his head away from the shoulder, cramping up again.

"It's… stopping."

Naruto seemed to relax a little, breathing heavily. Kenji and Eri let him go, and Naruto grabbed his shoulder again.

"Naruto-sensei?" Eri asked carefully. "Are you… um…"

"Do we need to take you to the hospital?" Kenji asked as he saw Naruto was still sweating.

"P-perhaps that's… best." Naruto looked up to his team. "Thank you." His eyes went upwards, and he slowly slid to the side.

Eri quickly held him up as he lost consciousness. She looked up to her teammates. She got the same looks back as the way she felt; worried.

"Ryomaru, you carry him."

"What?" Ryomaru looked at Kenji.

"You're the tallest." Ryomaru frowned at him. "We'll help you."

-x-

Somewhere on their way to the hospital Naruto had woken up, and with help had stumbled further.

Now he was sitting on a hospital bed as Sakura was checking his shoulder; his students standing at the end of the bed waiting.

"Does it still hurt?" Sakura asked as she turned him a bit.

"Yes."

"It certainly looks painful."

Naruto growled softly. "Really?" Naruto asked mockingly. He wasn't in the mood for smart remarks.

"When that ninja cut off your arm, it had cut right through the joint, so you completely lost your arm -apart from a tiny piece of the head from the bone in your upper arm-."

"I already know that."

"I mean, it cut right through a part of your shoulder blade. If it had been further it might have hit your collarbone. The cut was amazingly clean, so to say."

"Don't go praise the man."

"Don't worry, I was actually praising you." Naruto pulled up an eyebrow. "Normally such a cut would have shattered a part of someone's shoulder blade."

"That's nice." Naruto saw no compliment in that. His hand went up to his former armpit, but Sakura pushed it away.

"But now that part of your shoulder blade has been fixing itself. It's complete; that's why a part of that bone is sticking out."

"Can you be less cheerful when you tell me all that?"

"Naruto, don't you understand?"

"What?" Naruto asked flatly.

"Your arm is growing back, on its own!"

"Yes, I felt that."

"Naruto, that theoretically is impossible; it's amazing, can't you see?"

"Not right now, it hurts like hell and it's itchy."

"S-Sakura-sensei?"

Sakura turned away from Naruto, who took the chance to wrap his hand around his shoulder.

"Yes, Ryomaru-kun?"

"H-how is that possible?"

"Er…" Sakura didn't know what to say, she knew why it was happening, but Naruto hadn't told them about the Kyuubi yet and she didn't want to do that for him. He needed to tell them himself.

"It's becau-" Naruto stopped and cringed. "Shit."

"Again?" Eri asked.

Sakura turned around to Naruto once more and pushed his hand away. "It's not the bone, but-"

"Aargh!" Naruto doubled over.

"Naruto." Sakura helped him up again. When she did so, Eri gasped, Ryomaru's eyes grew a bit, and Kenji just stared at Naruto.

They had never seen Naruto's canine teeth grow this long before or his pupils turning oval instead of round.

"What the-?"

Sakura noticed now too. "Eri-chan, get a plate of meat."

"Huh?"

"Get some meat at the canteen, doesn't matter what kind."

"O-okay." Eri ran away.

"Fuck that hurts."

Naruto sat rather still this time, just jerking slightly every now and then while Sakura's pink hands hovered over his shoulder.

When Eri came back it was over, and Naruto had his eyes closed.

"Sensei?"

Sakura turned around, and took the plate as Naruto looked up too. He jerked a bit out of surprise when Sakura gave him the meat, and he slowly began to eat it. He didn't want to wolf the meat down in front of his students as they were already confused about what was going on. It was hard, but he managed.

He looked up to Sakura. She looked down to him and understood.

"I need to go for a moment." She walked out of the room.

Naruto ate a few more pieces of meat before he turned his eyes, now back to normal, to his students. "I think I need to explain some things to you."

Eri was still standing beside the bed and sat down on a chair. Kenji and Ryomaru followed her example as Naruto motioned they should too.

"About two years ago- No." Naruto gripped the plate and started turning it on his lap. "The day I was born the Kyuubi no Kitsune attacked Konoha." Naruto didn't felt like telling that complete story right now. "Yondaime Hokage saved everyone that day by sealing the Kyuubi inside a child."

Eri gasped and held her hands in front of her mouth. Kenji stared at Naruto. "You?" he asked and Naruto nodded.

"Yes, inside me." Naruto pulled up his shirt where the seal was still vaguely visible. "I didn't even know that myself until I was 12." Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Well, I never looked like this before -I mean the ears and tail- until about two years ago. The seal got weaker, and the fox tried to take over my body. We managed to re-seal it, so that will not happen ever again."

"Is that w-why animals don't like you?" Ryomaru asked softly.

"Yes, my chakra is since then mixing with the Kyuubi's chakra, which most animals don't like."

"And just now?" Kenji asked as he pointed to Naruto's face. "Your eyes and teeth."

"Yes, another side-effect. I need to eat more meat then normal people, and I guess the growing of my arm made that come up. Normally that doesn't happen."

"H-how come we didn't know?" Eri asked as she looked up to him with sad eyes.

"Ever since the day I was born, the Third Hokage made the sealing an S-rank secret. So people that knew were not allowed to talk about it. I think that still is the case. I'm not sure. Well, I think most people know something is wrong by now," Naruto grinned as he twitched his ears.

"That must have been hard," Eri said as she looked down into her lap.

"I had my bad days, but don't worry, I'm alright now. I'm still the same sensei that I was yesterday."

Silence fell and Naruto resumed eating the meat until he wasn't hungry anymore.

"Do we… need to get Sasuke-sama for you?" Kenji asked as he looked away from Naruto, a slight hint of a blush on his cheeks.

"No, he's on a mission. Akira-kun is at Kurenai-sensei's place."

They had no idea who that was, but didn't ask.

Naruto looked down to his three students as they sat there next to each other. Eri was looking down, Kenji out of the window, and Ryomaru was looking at his fiddling fingers.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, I just don't like talking about it to everyone."

"It's okay," Kenji said, and Ryomaru and Eri looked up to him, a bit surprised.

"Yeah, we understand." Eri stood up and hugged Naruto, careful not to touch his injured shoulder.

"Heh." Naruto laid his hand on Eri's back. "Thanks again for what you have done for me today," Naruto told them. "I really appreciate it."

"You're o-our sensei," Ryomaru said quietly.

"Exactly!" Eri stood up again, showing her fist.

Kenji smiled.

"Haha." Naruto smiled too and then yawned. "Ah, growing back an arm sure is tiring."

-x-

When he woke up, it was because someone familiar was approaching him. Naruto opened his eyes and looked up.

He was still in the hospital, sleeping in the same bed as before, lying on his stomach.

"Are you okay?"

"You're back early." Naruto turned around, sitting up in the bed.

"Tsunade-sama said two days, but one and a half was enough to complete the mission and get back." Sasuke looked down to Naruto's bandaged shoulder.

The second time his shoulder had hurt, muscles and blood vessels had been forming around the bone. It had begun to bleed, and Ryomaru had bandaged it before they had left.

"So it _is_ growing back, eh?"

"You going to be all joyous about it as well?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke stared at him. "You don't like it?"

"Of course I like it, but it hurts and _that_ I don't like."

"Perhaps if you think about the thought that you can hold me properly in a while..." Sasuke leaned over Naruto and Naruto went back a little.

"A while?"

"Maybe a couple of weeks or months; who knows with you."

"Please let it be weeks… or days is even better."

"Hm," Sasuke smirked. "You coming home?"

"I'm allowed?" Naruto asked, even though he was already pulling the sheets back, and reaching for his torn shirt and his green vest.

"Yes, Sakura said it's alright. Besides they can't really do anything about the growing anyway."

Naruto pulled on the green jounin vest, and gave the shirt to Sasuke so he could put on his sandals.

"Yeah, too bad. Well, let's get going."

-x-

Naruto was just telling Sasuke that he'd told his students about the Kyuubi, while they were sitting on the couch together. The blond lay with his side against Sasuke, with Sasuke's arm wrapped around him

"Was about time, wasn't it?"

Naruto looked up astonished. "Excuse me?"

Sasuke laughed. "The look on your face." Naruto's eyebrow twitched. Sasuke almost never joked.

"What did they say?" Sasuke was serious again.

"Not much, they were surprised I guess."

"So you can still teach them."

Naruto looked up to Sasuke. "Of course, they don't possibly want to trade the best sensei in the world."

Sasuke and Naruto stared at each other. Naruto began laughing, and Sasuke quietly joined him.

"It was actually easier then I had thought; they were quite understanding."

"Probably because they know you."

"How do you know if they know me? You almost never want to see them."

"Hm," Sasuke smirked and Naruto was again surprised. "No one told you, but I also took over their training when you were gone."

"Eh… EH?"

"Just a day or two."

"What did they say? Why didn't you tell me? Why haven't they told me?"

"Probably because I told them not to."

"Eh?" Naruto was still processing this. He'd never thought that might have happened. He'd thought Sasuke had already been quite upside down with being alone with Akira during that time. Did he really train his team too?

"Well, I figured I might teach them something useful for a change, that's all."

"Teme."

"You really still are a dobe."

Naruto pursed his lips.

"I must say I really don't mind that I don't have a team of my own, I'd rather lead some more experienced ninja." Naruto was curious now. "But it wasn't that bad to do just for one time."

"Ha, never thought to hear that from you."

"Hn."

Naruto cuddled Sasuke more tightly, and shuffled closer to him.

"It's weird, but I've become so used to Akira-kun that it's quiet without him around the house." Akira was staying the night over with Akane at Kurenai's, so they were all alone tonight.

"Hm," Sasuke agreed as he placed his head on top of Naruto's, flattening an ear, which Naruto didn't really like.

They sat there silently, thinking for a while.

"I'm really sorry I never told you."

"Huh? About the team training?" Naruto was a bit confused by the serious tone in Sasuke's voice about this topic.

"No, about Akiharu."

"Oh." Naruto furrowed his eyebrows.

"I never really liked her, not that I saw her that often. She was mostly in another base than where Orochimaru and I where." Sasuke blew at a yellow spike as it was dangerously close to his nose, making Naruto twitch his other ear.

Naruto just listened, not intending in interrupting Sasuke now he was talking about this subject.

"But when we were in the same base I never talked to her, only once. She asked me about my birthday; I had just turned 16. I tried to ignore her, but she kept nagging me, and then Orochimaru and Kabuto came in."

Sasuke was silent again, thinking of how to explain things to Naruto.

"It's hard to explain if you haven't been there with them, but the atmosphere and… Well everything seems so different now when I'm looking back, but at that time it just happened like that. I don't know how to explain it to you."

"Just tell what you felt then, perhaps then I at least understand a bit of what you felt," Naruto said softly. "I won't blame you for anything you say. I know I wasn't there."

Sasuke was glad Naruto wasn't about to scream or yell at him, because he really did want to explain this to Naruto. He wanted this whole thing off his chest. He couldn't do that until Naruto knew everything; including how it happened.

Sasuke huffed. "I think I really felt like I was above them, they were nothing to me. I just needed Orochimaru to teach me his techniques and get stronger. If I could have left for someone else to train me, I wouldn't have needed to think twice. I hated him. You've met him; he's so…"

"Creepy, cunning, snake-like, horrible, scary," Naruto finished Sasuke's sentence for him.

Sasuke actually laughed. "Yes. I thought I was above him, but inside I think I was a bit scared of him; of what he really was."

"What do you mean?"

"I tried not to look too much at him, so to say, what he really was like. I wasn't interested in his experiments. That was what I told myself, that I wasn't interested, but in reality I was repulsed by them. I didn't want to know about everything that he did. The things I've seen him do... I told myself he was a lowly worm; pathetic."

"Hm, you sure seemed like you thought the world of yourself." Naruto thought back to their encounter on the first mission with Sai and Yamato.

"Hn."

"I'm sorry, go on." Naruto pressed Sasuke a little lighter against himself.

"Hmm." Sasuke tried to remember what he'd told Naruto already. "I don't think I've even seen half of the things Orochimaru and Kabuto did, what I did saw, was enough." Sasuke had told Naruto about some of the experiments he'd seen, and Naruto remembered a few of those stories. He couldn't disagree with Sasuke when he said he didn't like to see them. Orochimaru treated humans like rats, even worse; cutting them open while they were still alive, taking out organs or implanting new ones without sedations; cutting off limbs, trying to replace them. And those probably weren't even the worst ones. Sasuke had once tried to describe an experiment he'd seen, but Sasuke had been so grossed out himself that what he'd told Naruto, had made no sense to him. Naruto hadn't understood anything of what Sasuke had tried to tell him.

"I think I can imagine just a little what it was like."

Sasuke decided to go on. "So Orochimaru and Kabuto came in the small room. It was some sort of cold, dark and clammy room. All I wanted was to get away, from them and from the room. Of course I didn't show that; I hoped they would leave me alone if I just kept ignoring them, but Orochimaru had other plans.

He wanted to talk to me about something, I think -he never said about what, but he always tried to get some more information about the Uchiha and the Sharingan."

"Creep."

"He and Kabuto sort of began pushing me." Sasuke stopped. "It's weird to say it like this."

"I know you're not easily pushed to do anything, so I guess he did it in some canny way or something."

"Let's keep it to that. I have no better words to describe it." Sasuke wasn't really a talker anyway, so Naruto accepted the explanation.

"They sort of talked the two of you into it?" he said.

Sasuke stiffened at Naruto's words, and was silent for a while. "I think… I think you can sort of say that. I was stubborn and well-"

'_We weren't really forced, but it wasn't completely willingly either,'_ was what Sasuke had told him in the forest during their fight.

"So you really didn't do it because you loved her or anything?"

"No, not at all. I told you it hadn't meant anything to me. Afterwards we only hated each other even more."

"Hè, I just thought you kept saying that for me."

"I've never loved anyone before I loved you."

"Not anyone?"

"No, I just felt like that was a waste of time."

Naruto smiled. "Glad you changed your mind."

Sasuke grinned. He had finally told Naruto what he'd wanted to tell him. He felt so much better; lighter.

"Sasuke, can you get off my ear now; it feels like no blood is running through it."

Sasuke moved his head away from Naruto's. The ear flopped up immediately, and Naruto fiddled with it for a moment. "That's better."

"It is," though Sasuke referred to their talk.

"Ne, Sasuke." Sasuke looked at Naruto. "Thanks for telling me." He kissed Sasuke.

* * *

><p>Water was pouring down his face and his chest, but he ignored it. Naruto was looking at his now complete shoulder. The head of the bone of the upper arm had completely grown back last night, and now his shoulder was again a shoulder instead of half of it. He actually had an armpit again, more or less.<p>

On the place where the arm had been cut off clean, was now a white scar running over his shoulder. The new shoulder was a bit darker of colour than the rest of his skin, but that was slowly turning to match the rest of his skin colour over the days.

At first the new skin would be red and a bit raw at the touch, but after a day it would be a bit darker and smooth again. Naruto laid his hand on his shoulder; it didn't hurt anymore, but growing back the joint had been quite painful. Naruto (and probably Sasuke too) had hardly slept all night.

Naruto finished showering, left the shower and put a towel around his waist. He walked up to the mirror and looked at his shoulder again. From above he couldn't see it, but in the mirror he could see a little of the open wound; because it actually was still a wound. Sakura didn't close it because that would only be more painful when it would start growing again.

He could see some dried up blood and some fresh blood, but it wasn't seeping out of it. He didn't like watching the wound, seeing the bone and all the flesh. If Akira stood beside him he would probably look right into that. Naruto shuddered, and covered the wound with his hand as if Akira was actually there. He didn't want to give the boy nightmares.

The door opened and Sasuke came walking in. He hugged Naruto, but then let go again when he felt Naruto hadn't dried of yet. Sasuke was already dressed, and didn't feel like doing that again.

"Does it still hurt?" he asked when he saw Naruto's hand on his shoulder.

"No, not really." Naruto began drying off as Sasuke went to the sink and began shaving.

"Sasuke, can you put the bandage on?" Naruto asked as he looked at Sasuke in the mirror, standing in his boxers.

Sasuke continued shaving his chin without saying a word, and Naruto turned to the door when it opened again.

"Tou-chan?" Akira peeked inside, and saw both Sasuke and Naruto were here. He walked in to Naruto, and Naruto laid his hand on his shoulder again, to cover it up.

"Does it still hurt?" Akira asked as well.

"No, not really. I hope you could sleep a little last night." Naruto had been screaming in pain every once in a while. He tried to bring the volume down, but the growing was quite painful...

"A little."

"Sorry."

Akira looked up to Sasuke. "What are you doing tou-chan?"

"Shaving."

"Why? Kaa-chan never did."

Naruto began laughing.

"What?" Akira asked.

"Men get a beard when they don't shave," Sasuke told him, cleaning the razor as he finished.

"Oh."

"Only when you're older."

Suddenly Akira pulled at Naruto's boxers, and Naruto quickly grasped the waistband so it wouldn't slip off. "Naruto, you shave too?"

"Of course." Akira finally let go as he was looking up to Naruto, and Naruto put his boxers in the right position.

"Everywhere?" he whispered.

"Akira-kun, I'm not a fox, I'm human." Akira just blinked. "And I've never been a fox in my life." Naruto began swishing his tail in annoyance.

"I know."

"Huh? Then why-?"

"You were a kitsune," Akira said softly, secretly -in an almost mysterious voice. Naruto grumbled. He hated Kakashi for saying that.

"No, I'm not a kitsune. Besides, a kitsune is just a fox, there's no difference."

"But kitsune are mysterious and foxes normal."

"Eh?"

"He means mystical," Sasuke explained, cleaning his face with a towel.

"Oh." Naruto shook his head. "No, Akira-kun, I told you before. I was born a human and have always been, I just- Are you even listening?" Akira had the tendency to get conveniently distracted when Naruto tried to explain he wasn't a fox – or kitsune for that matter.

"Your arm looks interesting."

A shiver ran down Naruto's spine as he hadn't been covering his shoulder ever since Akira had pulled his boxers. Quickly he laid his hand on it, but it was already too late.

"I could see blood vessels and bone," he said happily; a bit too happily in Naruto's opinion.

Naruto eyed Akira, and Sasuke turned around to face them as well.

"Shizune-san told me all about intestines and blood vessels," Akira said smiling.

"And you liked it?" Naruto asked surprised.

Akira nodded. "It was very interesting!" Naruto lowered his ears at the echoing sound of Akira's voice.

"Are you ready, Akira?" Akira looked up to Sasuke and nodded. "Then let's go."

Naruto looked to Sasuke questioningly. "Where to?" he asked as Akira was already leaving the bathroom.

"To the park, I thought you had heard that."

"I was still asleep when you went down for breakfast."

"Hn." Sasuke followed Akira down the stairs, while Naruto dressed himself.

"Tou-chan?" Akira asked as he took one step at a time down the stairs.

"Hn?"

"Didn't Naruto say yesterday that he had team practise?"

Upstairs Naruto suddenly stiffened as he had been trying to close the button on his pants. "Shit, I forgot."

"I don't know," Sasuke told Akira as he sat down on the stairs to pull on his sandals. Akira sat down beside him, looking at how Sasuke put his sandals on, and began copying the movements. Sasuke smiled when he noticed so.

Then Naruto came running down the stairs, jumped over the two Uchihas, and sprinted to the kitchen.

"I guess you were right," Sasuke told Akira and Akira smiled.

Just as the two were standing up, Akira still copying Sasuke, the doorbell rang.

"That's my team!"

Akira glanced up to Sasuke to see what he was doing. Sasuke noticed Akira wasn't going to open the door, so he did.

"Ohayo, Sasuke-sama!" three voices sounded cheerfully.

"Ohayo," Sasuke almost mumbled.

"Sasuke-sama, do you know where Naruto-sensei is?"

"He's late," Kenji grumbled, frowning.

Naruto came out of the kitchen. "Ah, sorry, I was... er..."

"Naruto had pain all night," Akira told them.

Naruto grinned. "If you want to put it like that."

"A-are you alright, Naruto-sensei?" Ryomaru asked concerned.

"Yes, I'm fine now. Why don't you come in while I eat some breakfast?"

Kenji grumbled, but stepped into the house nonetheless, standing next to Sasuke and looking up to him.

"I think they want another training session from you," Naruto told Sasuke as he turned away to walk back to the kitchen.

"You know?" Eri asked.

"Obviously," Kenji told her.

"Akira and I are going to make a walk to the park," Sasuke said, walking to the door; Akira followed him.

"Bye, Ryomaru-san, Kenji-san, Eri-san."

"Bye Akira-kun, and you can call us just by our names," Eri said.

Akira blushed shyly. "O-okay, Eri." Eri smiled at him, giving him a thumbs-up. Akira giggled and quickly followed Sasuke outside.

"It's a shame he doesn't want to train us," Kenji said softly.

"Well, he was quite strict," Eri said and Ryomaru nodded. "But I guess it was fun too."

"There aren't a lot of other genin that can say they have been trained by Sasuke-sama."

"Un," Eri agreed. "Jinta-kun from team 5 was very jealous when I told him," Eri grinned.

"He's just a loser."

"Kenji-kun! Jinta-kun is very kind."

"Then go marry him."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"They you two should join in-"

"I know what marrying is!" Eri told him angrily.

Ryomaru sighed as his two teammates started squabbling again, and walked to the kitchen where Naruto had some trouble opening his ramen cup.

"Dammit, why do they make these things for two hands?" His tail was curled around the cup, but it slipped away.

"Shall I help you?"

"Ah, thank you Ryomaru."

"They are fighting again," Ryomaru told Naruto.

"I heard." Naruto sighed.

Sometime later when Ryomaru and Naruto were sitting at the table having a conversation while Naruto ate, about Ryomaru's senbon training and his mother giving him poison to use, when Kenji and Eri came in as well. Both had their arms crossed over their chest and weren't looking at each other.

"Done squabbling?" Ryomaru asked, making Kenji's and Eri's eyebrows rise.

"We weren't squabbling."

"No, just unnecessary talking. Right?" Naruto asked with a grin. He got two fowl looks from Eri and Kenji.

"Are you finished yet?" Kenji asked, looking away.

"Yes, I'm done." Naruto stood up, and together they left the house.

"It's already almost noon," Kenji grumbled.

"We can train longer into the evening if you like," Naruto said.

"No," came the curt reply.

"You would probably fall asleep," Eri grinned.

"I..." Naruto closed his mouth and sighed. "I probably would."

"But that's okay, then I can stroke your ears again." Eri grinned and grabbed Naruto's tail. Naruto yipped at the sudden touch. "But this will do for now."

"Eri-chan?" Ryomaru asked nervously as he glanced up to Naruto, but Naruto began laughing instead of getting mad.

"I don't mind."

"Oh?" Eri looked up surprised, still holding Naruto's tail as they walked onto the training field. She looked up to Naruto, who just walked on without looking back, and then turned her eyes back to the tail. Slowly she reached up and started stroking it.

"It's soft," she said softly.

"Really?" Ryomaru carefully shuffled closer to Eri as they halted at the wooden posts.

Eri nodded, and Ryomaru began fiddling with his shirt nervously.

Kenji sighed. "Just touch it if you want to do that."

Ryomaru made a small jump, and the fiddling became worse.

Naruto moved his tail away from Eri into Ryomaru's face. "Stop fiddling," he smiled. Ryomaru grasped the tail to get it out of his face. "So, what shall we do today?" Naruto wondered, thinking for a moment.

"Team training," Kenji suddenly said, and Naruto looked down to him a bit surprised; as was the rest.

"Really?"

"Yes, sensei." Kenji looked up to him with resolve in his eyes. "I want us to become the best genin team of our year!"

"You say it, Kenji-kun!" Eri said cheerfully.

"Next chuunin exams we are going to show everyone that we are the best and deserve to be chuunin!"

"We're gonna rock that place!"

Naruto showed a big smile on his face. "Finally. Then let's start training!" Naruto turned to Ryomaru. "You going to join us too?"

"Of course he is, Ryomaru-kun is the best genin medic! We need him!" Eri hugged Ryomaru. "Right?"

Ryomaru became instantly red. "O-okay."

"Not okay!" Eri said as she let him go. "Great! Say it Ryomaru; we are great!"

"Great," Ryomaru said softly.

"I didn't hear anything," Kenji said.

"G-great," he said a little louder.

"Louder, Ryomaru, scream!" Eri told him with a smile.

"G-" he took a deep breath. "We are great!" he yelled.

"That's it Ryomaru!" Eri put her arm around his shoulder. "We are great!" she pulled Ryomaru to Kenji, and put her other arm around the other boy's shoulders as well.

"Team 9!"

Naruto laughed at their enthusiasm. This felt good; they had finally found their confidence, confidence to be a real team. "Let whole Konoha know," he told them.

"Team 9 is the greatest!" they yelled together.

"Good, because it is the truth!"

* * *

><p>It was raining softly, but Naruto made no effort of getting shelter in the small waiting house Koketsu and Izumo were sitting. They were talking to Akira as he sat on the desk where Naruto had placed him. Akira was telling them all kinds of stories and the two chuunin obviously liked talking to the boy.<p>

Naruto and Akira were waiting at the gate for Sasuke to return from his mission close to Suna.

Naruto heard Izumo laugh at something Akira had said.

"It's true!" Akira told him, making Izumo laugh louder.

Naruto smiled and looked up into the sky, which led to some raindrops falling in his ears. Twitching them he leaned back against the wall. He hoped the rain would soon stop, and that Sasuke wasn't taking a break while the small raincloud went over.

Naruto was already drenched, but he actually liked the refreshing rain falling on his skin.

A lady with an umbrella walked by and giggled when she saw Naruto standing at the gate. Naruto stuck out his tongue to her, as he knew she was laughing at his drenched look. She huffed and walked on, feeling insulted or something. A small girl a little further laughed at the scene in front of her, until her mother told her to hurry.

Soon thereafter the rain stopped and the sun came out. Naruto shook his head and tail to get most of the water off. Then he heard Sasuke approaching. Sasuke was still too far to call Akira over already, but he already turned around to look over the road.

When Sasuke came into sight, stepping out of the forestry, Naruto called him once, letting him know to hurry up.

After hearing his father's name, Akira immediately jumped off the counter, and hopped up and down beside Naruto, which was slightly distracting.

"Tou-chan!" Akira ran to Sasuke when he was close enough and hugged his leg. Sasuke laid his hand on Akira's head.

Naruto couldn't hold his laughter any longer and snorted. Sasuke frowned at him, and Naruto burst out laughing. "Hahahahaaa!"

Sasuke was lobster red from a sun burn; a real bad one. "Haha, Sasuke… you got sunburn!"

Sasuke's face showed that he already knew and did not appreciate Naruto telling him again.

"I'm so-" Naruto stopped himself and stood up straight. "Does it hurt?" he asked seriously.

Akira reached up to hold Sasuke's hand. "Tou-chan?" he asked concerned.

"I'm fine, let's go." He started walking away, to the Hokage tower, to report his mission.

Koketsu and Izumo looked at each other, before quickly looking away again. When Sasuke was out of hearing reach they started laughing -afraid of doing so in front of the Uchiha.

When Sasuke came marching into Tsunade's office all she did was twitch her eyebrow when she saw him. Naruto told them he would wait outside with Akira till they were done. Shizune seemed to have been thinking of coming with him, but decided against it at the last moment. Her face told him she had trouble to keep a serious face.

Before they left again, Tsunade told them to come by later that day, without Akira.

At home, Sasuke went straight to the bathroom and locked the door. After Naruto had set Akira to play, making a puzzle, he quickly went upstairs, waiting for Sasuke to open the door.

Naruto was actually dozing off when he finally heard the doorknob turn. Sasuke was only in his underwear and a towel in his hand. He probably was glad he always wore long sleeves, because Naruto could see precisely where his clothing had stopped.

Pulling himself together, telling himself not to laugh, Naruto gripped the bottle of lotion in Sasuke's right hand. "You want me to do it?"

Sasuke considered him for a moment, making sure he was serious, and then gave Naruto the after sun lotion. He walked over to the bed and sat down.

"It was really warm," he muttered.

Naruto sat down behind him on the bed, and handed him the bottle back. Sasuke poured some lotion in his hand, and Naruto carefully started smearing it in Sasuke's neck, slowly moving over to his face. To make sure he could see very clearly what he was doing he moved over to sit on Sasuke's lap.

He put some of the lotion on Sasuke's nose, making Sasuke look at him. "Your skin is really burning up," Naruto told him.

"No kidding." Suddenly Sasuke realized something. "Have you ever got sunburn?"

"Of course I have."

"Like this?"

Naruto stopped moving his hand, and leaned back a little s he could see Sasuke more properly. "No."

"Thought so."

"It's not like I can help it you're always so pale."

"I'm not pale."

"Light."

Sasuke gave him a look. "I just burn easily."

"You do."

Before Sasuke could protest, Naruto kissed him on his chest.

-x-

"So we stay at home all day?" Naruto asked Tsunade as they were standing in front of her desk. She had just told them the plan of the Kyuubi festival.

"Yes, I'm sorry. It's not really something nice to do on your birthday-" Tsunade started.

"Oh, I don't mind. I actually prefer staying home," Naruto smiled.

"As I said, you two will keep an eye on Akira all day, then I don't need to miss an ANBU to protect him -you two are good enough." Tsunade turned her head from Naruto to Sasuke. "I will station all ANBU at the festival; I don't want any villagers to get hurt because of this- this Hunter." She decided to stay polite.

Sasuke nodded as he understood.

"I will inform all other chuunin and jounin that when they are on the festival to keep an eye open for trouble. They can go and have fun in their own free time, but are still close by just in case."

"And the obje-?"

"I was coming to that, gaki." Naruto pursed his lips. "I will take the objects, put the necklace on and keep the statue close by. This way the hunter will see Akira doesn't have them, and hopefully will keep away from him. He will know I have his treasure, and he might actually come to talk to me. Otherwise there are enough ANBU around to take care of things quickly." Tsunade hit her fist on the table. "I will personally take care of him if he thinks he can just come in the village and attack me!"

Naruto laughed. "Go, Tsunade!" he cheered.

"I'm serious!"

"I'm serious too," Naruto told her.

Tsunade smiled at that. "I can imagine you would like to pound him down as well when you see him?"

Naruto shrugged. "Probably not going to, with that plan of yours."

"I'll leave something for you."

Naruto laughed. "Can the Hokage actually say something like that?"

"Better not say it so openly," Sasuke said.

"I know you two will not tell anyone else," Tsunade said.

"You can trust us," Naruto laughed together with Tsunade.

"Good. Now, gaki, get away from my office, and have yourselves some good time before your birthday is there." Tsunade gave him a look with a hint of a grin. Naruto turned red as he thought he understood what Tsunade had just suggested.

"Gah." Some weird sound left his throat.

"We will, Hokage-sama," Sasuke said seriously as he pulled Naruto with him.

"Eh?" Naruto looked up to Sasuke, who was grinning a bit too happily.

-oXo-


	25. Chapter 25: Kyuubi festival

I keep forgetting to thank all you wonderful readers for adding my story to your list/ favourites. And of course those who review me (every week)! Thank you all! :D

**Chapter 25: Kyuubi festival**

_10__th__ of October_

The moon was out, a full one, lighting up their bedroom, and everything was silent.

Sasuke turned over, closer to the edge of the bed, pulling the covers closer to his chest.

"GAAAAAH!"

Sasuke actually fell out of the bed, and looked around him in shock, trying to find the reason for the scream as all kinds of things went through his mind. _Had they been attacked? Was the fox doing things with Naruto again?_ He knew that couldn't be true, but at such a moment everything crosses your mind.

He peered over the edge of the bed, his red eyes scanning it.

Naruto sat upright and was holding his left shoulder, shaking.

"Naruto, are you-?"

The door opened and Akira came inside, rubbing his eyes. "What was that?"

"Graah!"

"Naruto?" Akira asked concerned, backing away a bit.

Sasuke climbed up the bed next to Naruto, and pulled him against his chest.

"It's his arm again," Sasuke told Akira.

"Ghgg."

"O-okay." Akira stayed standing in the door, watching Naruto and his father.

Sasuke pulled up the sleeve of Naruto's t-shirt to reveal a complete shoulder and a piece of arm. Naruto now had a complete armpit again, and measured from that he had about 5 centimetres of arm. It was a bit uneven as it was growing again.

Akira could actually see the bone growing, muscles slowly growing, building itself up; blood vessels making their way through the flesh and the skin, tightly wrapping itself around it. He'd never seen anything like it, and strangely he wasn't repulsed by it, but instead fascinated as he remembered what Shizune and Sakura had taught him about the body.

Naruto groaned and grasped the painful stump of arm. "Aah."

"You better get back to bed," Sasuke told Akira, and Akira looked at him before he nodded. He turned around and went back to his own room.

Naruto pushed Sasuke away and moved to the edge of the bed.

"Can I help you?"

"Ghg," was all Naruto could manage for the moment as pain shot up from his arm through his spine.

"I'll get you something to eat," he said as he noticed Naruto's growing fangs and oval pupils in his clear, but pain filled eyes.

When Sasuke was downstairs, his growing arm began bleeding and was rapidly dripping blood on the sheets. He pulled back his sleeve over his arm, and instead that began to get red. The newly forming muscles cramped up and then loosened. This went on along with the bone growing, which was sticking out again by at least 2 centimetres. You could actually see very clearly how hollow it was, and that it actually was just a very dense shell so to say.

The fresh growing tight skin was a bit redder than his normal skin colour, but just as the skin on his shoulder, which had been this red as well, it would regain his own tan colour, as if it had always been like that.

The only thing reminding of the cut off arm was the scar that went all around his shoulder on the place it had been cut off.

Sasuke came back, but Naruto couldn't even begin to think about eating the baked meat as he cramped up in pain again. He thought the food would only get out again if he ate now. First the growing needed to stop, and that was until the flesh had reached up till the bone as Naruto had come to know over the last days.

Sasuke placed the plate on the nightstand and sat down beside Naruto again.

"J-just lay-lay down." Naruto wanted him to go back to sleep, but knew he wouldn't be able to, so lying down was fine.

Sasuke nodded and lay back. Slowly Naruto lay back too, rolling up on his side. Sasuke folded his arms around Naruto and hugged him from behind, laying his forehead against the back of Naruto's head.

"Ghggg."

-x-

In the morning Naruto woke up, lying on Sasuke's chest as he was staring at him.

"Ohayo," Sasuke said when Naruto turned his head to him.

"Hm," Naruto moaned and closed his eyes again. Sasuke knew he hadn't slept a lot because of the pain, and it had actually taken quite a while before the growing had finally stopped.

Sasuke would have let Naruto stay in bed as long as he wanted, especially on his birthday, but this was also the day the Treasure Hunter would probably come to claim his treasure back.

So when Sasuke had finally been able to get Naruto out and get dressed, it was a rather weird view seeing him sitting at the kitchen table like a zombie.

Akira was happily singing 'Happy birthday' to Naruto, and Sasuke saw Naruto was really trying to listen and smile.

"Happy birthday to you!" Akira finished and Sasuke clapped as Naruto seemed to lack that kind of enthusiasm right now.

"Thank you Akira-kun."

"Do we have a cake?"

"Er…" Naruto rubbed his eyes.

"Are you feeling not so good?" Akira asked softly, thinking he might have a headache.

"No," Naruto grunted.

"Hm, Akira, let him be for a while. He'll be fine," Sasuke ruffled his hair.

"Okay… tou-cha~n." He tried to get Sasuke's hand out of his hair and Sasuke grinned.

"So, what shall be do all day? You have any interesting games in mind, Akira?" Sasuke asked.

"To the festival!"

"We can't, we told you yesterday."

"What? Why not?" Akira pouted.

"Because…" Sasuke looked over to Naruto. "Naruto isn't very good friends with the Kyuubi." Sasuke had no idea what to say, and this was all he could come up with right now. He couldn't tell Akira he might be a target.

"But why can't we go? I promised Akane-chan we would go."

"I'm sorry, but we have to stay at home. It's Naruto's birthday, he doesn't want to go out."

Naruto grunted a confirmation.

"But…" Akira looked from Sasuke to Naruto and back. "But… I promised," he pouted.

"Akane will understand."

Akira sulked for a bit longer; he had never been to the festival and had looked forward to it.

"It's probably very boring anyway," Naruto told him as he sat on the couch, looking a bit more alive.

"Is it?"

"I don't know, I've never been to the festival. Only once when I was younger, and I definitely didn't like it back then." Naruto rubbed his face.

And so it was that Akira was sulking for quite a while. Only until Sasuke came told him he would like to look for some animals in the garden, Akira had soon forgotten everything about the festival.

"You know those shiny beetles, with big horns?" Akira indicated horns with his arms.

"Yes, I do."

"They are really beautiful and shiny! I really like those, they are my favourite animal. Along with cats," he smiled.

"I like cats too," Sasuke said softly.

"REALLY?" Akira was a bit too excited about that piece of information from his father, but he always liked it when he had something in common with him. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the high sound, and in the living room Naruto was suddenly sitting straight up, definitely awake now.

"Uh, yes. The Uchiha's had some connections with cats that-"

"Wow." Akira kept wow-ing and be amazed as Sasuke told him all this.

Naruto stood up from the couch and came outside as well, he wanted to do something. So he sat down beside Sasuke and Akira as they were talking about the cats, and started de-weeding the garden.

"Look Akira-kun, a love bug." Naruto held up the weed he had just picked, and showed it to Akira.

Akira turned away from the tree he had been looking at, to look at Naruto's finding. "O~h."

Naruto grinned and yawned.

"Are you still tired?" Akira asked him softly.

"It's okay."

Sasuke stood up to sit somewhere else, but Akira took his action for something else. "Tea-time!" he said as he ran past Sasuke into the house to help Sasuke with making the tea.

"Er..."

Naruto laughed. "I think he wants tea." Naruto yawned again and leaned against the tree he was sitting aside. "Go on, before he comes back to fetch you."

"Tou-cha~n!" it sounded from the kitchen. Naruto smiled at Sasuke in an I-told-you-so manner.

"Coming." Sasuke gave Naruto another look, and then turned to the house to help Akira with warming the water.

-x-

_Sasuke came walking to him and hunched down in front of him. "I like cats," he said and a cat tail swirled behind him._

"_What?" Naruto looked at the tail and had no idea of what to say._

"_Come on, Naruto. You know I like them," Sasuke held out his paw to Naruto._

_All Naruto could do was stare at it. Two cat ears wiggled on his head and his yellow eyes looked at him._

"_Naruto, come and dance with me, nyaa."_

"_What?"_

_Sasuke leaned closer, making their noses touch, and Sasuke started purring._

"_Purr with me, Naruto." He kissed him and licked his face, in a manner much like cats do to each other._

"_Sa-sasuke?"_

_Sasuke wrapped his tail around Naruto so he couldn't get away._

"_Naruto? Why don't you purr, nyaa?"_

"_Because beetles are better." Akira came from behind Sasuke, giant horns on his head, and his hair was shining just like the horns._

"_At least I can crush things." He held up three walnuts in his hand._

"_That's just stupid, nyaa." Sasuke pushed Akira aside. "Come on, Naruto, let's dance." He held out his paw to Naruto again._

_Akira stood up, walked over to Sasuke, and tried to push him over. "You're stupid; whoever has paws? They have no use!"_

_Sasuke pushed Akira away again, still holding out his paw to Naruto. "Naruto, come on?"_

"_What-?"_

"Naruto!"

Naruto sat upright and almost hit Sasuke's head.

"Eh?" Naruto asked confused as he looked Sasuke over. He was hunching in front of him; no tail or paws. He sighed in relief.

"Naruto, Akira has run away," Sasuke said concerned and slightly angry.

"What?"

"You fell asleep in the garden when we were making tea, and Akira said it was better to let you rest. I would wake you up when we finished drinking our tea, but Akira had to go to the toilet. He ran away."

"You didn't notice?"

"He tricked me. He was planning this all along." Sasuke looked really concerned by now. "We have to find him!"

Naruto could feel the emotions running trough Sasuke now, he was feeling them himself as well now. Akira was smart and could fight a little, but he could never handle real ninja's. What if he ran into one of those Hunter ninja's? He had no idea they were after him or what for. Even if they asked him he wouldn't be able to answer to their liking. Or what if Akane got involved?

"Let's go then, I'll go in the direction of Kurenai-sensei's apartment."

"I'll go directly to the festival."

Sasuke helped Naruto up and they quickly ran to the street. "I never thought he would do something like this," Sasuke said sadly. Naruto felt his disappointment and confusion.

"He's just too smart, and he really wanted to go. How can a kid outsmart us?"

They split up.

Naruto stopped in front of Kurenai's apartment. He ran up the wall and stopped at her window, looking inside. He activated his sage-mode, and tried to sense Akira's chakra inside, but found no chakra at all. Then he turned around and tried to locate Akira's chakra on the streets of the festival.

There were so many chakra patterns Naruto actually got dizzy and almost fell off the wall. There were just so many on one single spot that he couldn't separate them. The streets must be tremendously crowded.

He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. When he opened them again he looked up to the busy streets, and then he followed the shortest route to the festival. Perhaps Akira had done this as well, but he didn't see Akira on his way.

He pushed people out of the way as he searched in the crowd. His focus was on Akira, but if he found any sign of Kurenai or Akane, he had a good chance of finding Akira as well. Akira and Akane had probably promised to meet somewhere at a certain time.

Naruto looked around for recognizable points on the streets where one could meet.

Sasuke was right; he'd never thought Akira would do something like this. He was always so polite and listened to everything Sasuke told him, but Naruto hadn't noticed (and probably Sasuke hadn't either) how badly he'd wanted to go to the festival, or perhaps just to Akane.

Then Naruto remembered that night when Akira had had a nightmare and had come into their bedroom. He had said to the boy himself, _'A man is no man if he can't keep his promises'_.

He sighed. "Shit."

Naruto jumped unnoticeable up to a roof and looked over the crowd. He tried to listen for anything, but there were a lot of sounds, almost driving him crazy as he tried to focus only on Akira's voice. Smelling him wasn't much better as there were a lot of smells, and he didn't have Kiba's range of smell or precision.

As he looked around, he didn't see any small boys with black hair like Sasuke's. Plus if he was so small he could easily be pushed out of sight by the crowd. He could stand in between them without Naruto seeing him.

"Where would you meet, Akira-kun?"

-o-o-o-

Sasuke had no idea where Akira would probably want to meet Akane, except for places close to playgrounds and parks where they played together, so Sasuke searched those first.

Those places were relatively quiet and easy to oversee, but he didn't see his son.

"Akira?" Sasuke called, just in case he was hiding under a bush or something.

Akira had no idea what kind of danger he was in, and Sasuke was really worried. He knew ANBU were stationed all around the festival, but that didn't mean that nothing would happen. It was crowded and a lot of parents were there with their children. A ninja could just drag Akira away without anyone saying something about it, just thinking it was a stubborn child or something.

He quickly went to the next park in range and hunched down in a tree so he had a good view around. No Akira either; nor Kurenai or Akane.

_Akira? Where are you?_

_Calm down_, Sasuke told himself_. Calm down, you will not find him if you panic._

When Naruto was gone things were different. He missed him so much, he was worried and concerned, yes, but not like this, because he knew Naruto could take care of himself. Because Naruto was strong and could handle a lot, and no one could get him down just like that. It had been very hard going to bed all alone, waking up without him, being around Akira all day without Naruto joking around or snuggling into his chest.

But this was different, he was actually scared. Afraid of what might happen to his son. He'd never thought he was this close to the boy, but they had grown together a lot in the almost 5 months they were together. He wanted to protect him and make sure he was alright.

Perhaps he should have shown some more affection to him? Perhaps Akira didn't know how much he loved the boy? What if-?

Sasuke sighed as again he could not find Akira at the last playground.

_No, 'what if's... focus!_

-o-o-o-

Naruto was pushing his way through the crowd, searching along the street, where a lot of people stood. Perhaps Akira was here, wanting to see the -whatever these people were waiting for- and as a child he would have been able to get very near the street.

Naruto's ears turned around into every direction, trying to get even the slightest hint of Akira.

_I so hope he's not afraid._ Naruto remembered the one and only time he'd been to the festival. He'd been around the same age as Akira. Adults were standing over him, all very tall and threatening looking, and he was lost, he couldn't find his way back. Angry voices barking at him and whispering, those stares and-

Akira wasn't hated; he could ask where he was and get an honest and kind answer. Perhaps he was already with a nice lady who was helping him find Kurenai, thinking he had lost his mother.

"Look out!"

Naruto turned around, trying to see what was wrong.

"Oh, no! It is the Kyuubi!"

-o-o-o-

Sasuke ran down the street closer to the main event. He remembered when he'd been young and had gone to the festival with his family. He'd been very excited of what was about to happen. The parade of cars with giant animals and other sculptures had been beautiful and so very huge to him. He'd been looking forward to the festival as well back then, just like Akira now, but Sasuke doubted Akira had been properly informed of what would happen on the festival. He had no idea how many people would be there.

Akira had grown up in a small village where there were no big festivals like this one. He could get lost so easily, not recognizing where he was. He hadn't been to these streets very often. _Would he know where he was? Where would they meet?_

Sasuke's mind just kept repeating itself over and over. He halted and looked over the crowd. As tall as he was he could easily look over all the heads. This was not a street where they would meet, Sasuke thought, because Akira had never been here. He ran to the next street around a building, and came closer to the main street where everything happened.

His eyes scanned everywhere and everything, and then his mind came up with the most likely meeting spot. He immediately turned into that direction and sprinted to it. Close to a groceries store there was a small fountain Akira and Akane were fond off. They always wanted to go there when they were walking around town.

When he arrived there, his disappointment couldn't be bigger when he found no one even near the fountain. He couldn't even ask around if people had seen Akira.

"Perhaps..." Sasuke closed his eyes sadly.

-o-o-o-

"_Oh, no! It is the Kyuubi!"_

Naruto stiffened. Had they seen his ears and tail? Were the villagers mad he was here?

"But look, we are safe, for there is our greatest hero... Yondaime Hokage!"

"Eh?" Naruto turned to the street, and saw a villager dressed up as the Yondaime, with an obvious blond wig and an actual hero-like cape around his shoulders. He was standing on a parade cart. On the ground around him were villagers dressed as farmers and ninja in a bit too exaggerated way, making everything look overly fake.

Naruto had never seen the parade before, so he hadn't thought of something like this to happen. The villagers were retelling the event... in their own way.

He shook his head and proceeded his search.

"Don't you worry, my dear villagers, it is I, the great and awesome Yondaime Hokage, who shall save you from harm! I will slay this evil beast!" The voice sounded overly fake, as if the man was reading out loud. "I will kill the evil Kitsune with its many tails!"

Naruto couldn't help but snort. That just sounded ridiculous.

Then he suddenly stopped. That scent!

He turned back to the street and sniffed the air. He was close. That meant he was already in the village! Naruto pushed his way closer to the street. He could smell him much better now, that meant he was getting closer to him.

The blond looked around, trying to pick him out of the crowd while he almost stood on the street by now.

"I will cut each and every tail. I'll make him wish he had never come to attack our beautiful village of Konoha!"

Why couldn't he see him? Naruto went to stand on his toes, but it didn't help much. Someone tried to push him aside.

"Tell me, where is this evil fox, the Kyuubi no Youko?"

Naruto turned to his left. There! He pushed his way through the crowd.

"Great Hokage-sama, look over there! It is the monster! Kyuubi!"

Naruto reached forward, his hand close to the board of the man's vest. He missed and reached again, but he was pushed away. This time he lost his balance and stumbled onto the street.

Silence fell as everyone was looking at him in confusion. He stood probably on the exact spot where the fake Kyuubi had been meant to appear.

Naruto immediately flattened his ears and curled his tail between his legs. He looked up a little, and noticed everyone's attention was on him.

"This can't be good," he said softly. He turned to his right, seeing the fake Yondaime look at him with wide eyes and his mouth hanging open.

"Are you... Kyuubi?" the Yondaime actor asked, sounding very confused.

Naruto swallowed as he heard people mutter and whisper.

"_Who's that?"_

"_It's him."_

"_What is he doing here?"_

"_This is no way to credit the boy for what he has done for us!"_

"_Is that a real tail, mommy?"_

Naruto felt uncomfortable and didn't know what to do or say. He seemed to be frozen for a moment.

"Yondaime-sama!" A little girl came running to Naruto and hugged him before Naruto realized what was going on. "Yondaime-sama!"

"No, I'm not Yondaime," Naruto said as he tried to get the girl off him.

"I'm the Yondaime Hokage!" the actor said, looking a bit pissed toward Naruto.

"No!" the girl yelled at him and grabbed Naruto tighter, who began to look around a bit panicky. He needed to find Akira and get out of here. "Thank you, Yondaime-sama!" she yelled at him.

The young girl's mother came forward and smiled awkwardly to Naruto. "I'm so sorry," she said as she tried to get the girl off Naruto.

"Ahaha, don't worry." Naruto laughed uncomfortably. The girl really didn't want to let go, but eventually they were able to get her off, and the mother lifted her up, quickly walking away.

"I got to go now," Naruto waved to the fake Yondaime and grinned. He wanted to get out of here as fast as possible. As he was moving away his tail swished behind him and his ears went back up, so he could listen better again.

"Kyuubi!"

"O, oh." Naruto quickly sprinted away into the crowd. He didn't stop until he was hiding behind a dumpster in a deserted alley. That had been very scary somehow. Memories of his only time on the festival came back.

He hit the wall with his fist hard. "Shit. I almost had him."

-o-o-o-

Sasuke sat on a roof, studying the crowd with his Sharingan. The crowd was excitedly cheering to the parade and the obvious fake Yondaime.

And then everything became quiet, people started whispering. Sasuke looked down the street and saw...

_Is that Naruto? _Sasuke narrowed his eyes_. _From above, Sasuke saw the flat black ears between the yellow spikes.

If Sasuke hadn't known Naruto so well, he might have thought he wanted some attention, but that was not the case; certainly not today of all days.

"Naruto! Naruto!" Sasuke turned his head back so quick, he felt something snap in his neck, but he didn't care.

He saw Akira! He was jumping and waving, but not to Naruto; he was looking the other way. Before Sasuke could do anything Akira ran into the crowd, as he apparently thought he'd seen Naruto.

"Akira!" But Akira didn't hear him.

Quickly Sasuke jumped off the roof and landed in the crowd, earning him some shocked looks and a few angry ones as he pushed his way through the crowd.

"Akira!" He was so close now; he couldn't help but feel slightly relieved. His hands were sweaty, and he was nervous.

Who was Akira following?

-o-o-o-

"Are you alright?"

Naruto looked up to meet a single black eye looking down at him.

"Yes, I was just a little... startled."

Kakashi helped Naruto stand up, and Naruto dusted his pants off.

"Weren't you supposed to be at home with Sasuke and Akira-kun?"

"Akira-kun ran away." Kakashi's eye widened. "He really wanted to go to the festival; he'd promised Akane-chan."

"That's not good. I'll go inform the ANBU."

Naruto grasped Kakashi's shoulder before he could walk away, and gave him a serious look. "He's here already, the Treasure Hunter." Kakashi looked at him. "I smelled him, and I almost had him before I was pushed onto the street."

"Hm," Kakashi sighed.

Naruto walked past Kakashi back to the crowd to look for Akira. Kakashi vanished with a swirl of leaves.

Naruto tried to get back close to where he'd seen the Hunter, and tried to pick up his scent so he could follow it.

It took him quite a while, but finally he sniffed the air a bit further away from the crowd, when he found it again. Carefully he followed the trail, afraid he might accidentally lose it when he would go too fast.

Suddenly a second familiar smell joined the first one.

"That can't be good."

-o-o-o-

Sasuke ran towards the empty building as all trails led to this place. It was a few streets behind the festival and almost no one was around here.

Stealthily he walked around it, and found another way in through an open window. Inside he kept sticking to the walls while he slowly moved around in the building. It seemed like some sort of small fabric factory. In a big hall with all kinds of old weaving machinery, he finally found Akira again.

Akira was looking around, a bit afraid now seeing his shoulders were pulled up, and his eyes were scanning the area with quick movements.

"Naruto?" he asked softly into the big open space.

All Sasuke wanted to do was run to Akira and take him in his arms, away from here, but he knew better than that. He needed to know if this person disguised as Naruto was in fact trying to take Akira or get the information he wanted, or knew Sasuke was there as well and wanted to trap him.

He would be an easy target when running over to Akira.

"Naru-?" Akira started again when a shadow moved. He turned around and tried to make himself tall, showing he wasn't afraid, but his eyes betrayed his real emotions.

Sasuke moved closer as well, and suddenly saw Naruto coming from behind some big machine.

"Akira-kun, we were so worried!" He opened his arm to Akira, and Akira hesitantly got closer.

"Naruto? Why are we here?"

Naruto looked up confused. "What do you mean?"

"Why did you go here?" Akira held back a little, looking more afraid then before.

"I wanted you to be safe."

-o-o-o-

On his way to the building he'd found an ANBU, and together they sneaked into the building. They entered the big building and walked into a small hall. There he only saw a lot of smaller rooms.

The ANBU indicated his partner to split up, and Naruto nodded too when he noticed this. He'd told them that the smell of the Hunter had joined with another familiar smell, and later again with another. When those three had joined each other for almost 20 metres they had split up, but all seemed to come back here except for one; though Naruto wasn't sure.

His nose wasn't that great and he didn't use it that often; he wasn't trained to sniff out tracks.

He opened a door and looked into the small room, finding only more doors. This was a maze, not a building.

He sniffed around but found nothing, so he went on to the next room. When he opened the door of the seventh room he smelled something familiar. He walked into the room and sniffed the air. This was not one of those familiar scents.

Cautiously he slid towards another door and opened it. There was a man sitting in the room, his back to Naruto as he sat behind a table. The man sitting there didn't even notice he was there. Naruto could very easily walk up behind him. He wasn't wearing a hitai-ate or other sort of headband, and he had an awfully foul smell. Naruto tapped him on his shoulder, but was afraid of what would happen when he did this.

-o-o-o-

"Why do you have four whiskers?" Akira asked as he looked at Naruto.

Naruto touched his cheek and smiled. "Why? Can't I?"

"Naruto has three," Akira said softly as he backed away.

"You don't trust me?"

Akira shook his head, and Naruto came closer. His hand went for a small sword he had on his back, and Sasuke didn't care any longer if this was a trap or not. Naruto attacked Akira at the same time as Sasuke pushed off the wall.

The sword swung through the air and blood splattered.

"Akira!"

-o-o-o-

The man didn't move at all so Naruto moved around the man. The man slowly began sliding over and fell onto the ground. Naruto jumped aside, so the man wouldn't fall on top of him.

He was dead. A foreign kunai was sticking out of his chest and blood covered his front. His face showed he had been surprised by the attack.

Naruto bended over the man; he was some sort of beggar, probably sleeping inside of the deserted building they were in. He hadn't been dead for a long time, only for half an hour at most. The blood hadn't even dried up yet.

Naruto inspected the kunai, but didn't really recognize it. He hadn't even seen what kind of kunai those ninja of the Hunter used when he had been captured there. He had either been blindfolded or been in a berserker rage/ not in a right state of mind.

He pulled up his nose at the stench of the old beggar, and quickly moved away. He wouldn't find anything interesting here, so he tried to sniff out some other scent.

As he opened the only other door in the room, he picked it up. It was quite an easy scent to follow actually. He ran through rooms, doors and small hallways. This man didn't know the layout of the building either, because he was moving from one room to the next in a very irregular way, not in a manner of someone who knew his way around.

And then he stopped. The person he'd been following was on the other side of the next room. Naruto reached up to his neck where one of the two ANBU had tied a radio around his neck. He softly told the other ANBU he'd found someone, though he had no idea where he was, but that he'd left the doors open; leading to his location.

Then he turned the radio off and carefully opened the door. He knew who was inside, and he very much liked to hit this man very harshly on the head a couple of times (and that was Naruto being polite).

He didn't even try to be silent; the man was already facing him. His shoulder length hair almost hung into his eyes and a grin spread over his face.

"We meet again, fox-boy."

-o-o-o-

Sasuke held Akira tightly against his chest. "Are you all right?" he asked concerned.

"Tou-chan-" Akira said slowly as he reached for his cheek. A thin red line ran across it, and it was slowly bleeding. "I-I'm fine." He turned a bit away from Sasuke's chest so he could see the Naruto, and gasped.

The Naruto with four whiskers still held his small sword in his hands, but it had been stopped by Sasuke's right arm. Blood was rapidly dripping off Sasuke's arm as the sword had cut into his arm and was still stuck into the bone. Sasuke didn't even flinch at the pain or when blood dripped rapidly onto the ground.

The Naruto pulled his sword once, but it didn't give way, and Sasuke grunted very softly as it tugged at the bone in his arm. Another pull and it was free; Sasuke let his arm fall beside him.

"Tou-chan?" Akira asked as looked up scared.

"It's alright; otou-san can handle it." It was the first time Sasuke referred to himself as otou-san. It made Akira calm down somewhat. He nodded and kept close to Sasuke as his father stood up, grabbing his own katana with his left hand. It was a bit more difficult than with the right, but he'd practiced with both hands. This ninja would probably not notice the difference.

"You'll pay for what you did to my son!" Sasuke growled as his Sharingan spun in his eyes.

"Haha," the Naruto laughed uncomfortably. Then his expression changed and became harder and darker, "tell me where it is!" He looked up angry to Sasuke as he tried to ignore the Sharingan as much as possible.

Suddenly his appearance began changing and he became a brown, spiky haired ninja. On his headband was no symbol, but he did have a band around his arm with the curly initials T.H. and a diamond on the background.

Sasuke didn't respond and was about to attack. The ninja noticed this. "He has it, we know! We know the woman with him stole it!"

"He doesn't have it any longer." Sasuke turned Akira a bit away as the air became static.

"I wouldn't do anything if I were you." Sasuke ignored the man and a Chidori sounded as it covered his katana. "Kill them!" The brown haired man shouted in a bit of a panic.

Sasuke swung his katana and the end extended so the electricity cut the ninja right through his heart.

"Nobody will lay a finger on him!" he yelled to the dying man in front of him.

Sasuke turned around, keeping Akira close with his injured arm, as more ninja jumped to them. He began forming the Susano'o, hoping Akira wouldn't get rejected by it, but then a hard, high pinched sound made its way through the air, and both Akira and he fell to their knees, the Susano'o disappearing. Akira covered his ears with his hands.

"You think we would come to take on the Sharingan unprepared?"

Sasuke pushed Akira aside as a metal sphere with spikes landed at exactly that spot. Sasuke stood up, swayed, and tried to focus his chakra into his katana once more.

Kunai and shuuriken came hurling in their direction, but Sasuke countered them with his blade. Another ninja landed behind him, wanting to stab him with a kunai. Sasuke elbowed him with his injured arm.

"Tou-chan!" Akira screamed as he saw once again shuuriken coming to him, and he fell to the ground, covering his head.

Sasuke took in a breath as he saw the projectiles fly toward his son. Quickly he turned around, on his way to his son to deflect the approaching shuuriken, but two hands grabbed his painful right arm, and twisted it.

"Akira!"

-oXo-

I remember this was hard to write, I guess I'm not that great writing 'action' scenes :P But the plot told me to do so! ^^


	26. Chapter 26: Kyuubi festival Part II

Thank you MS3923 for being my beta :D you're the best!

-oXo-

**Chapter 26: Kyuubi festival - Part II**

_10__th__ of October_

_He knew who was inside, and he very much liked to hit this man very harshly on the head a couple of times (and that was Naruto being polite)._

_He didn't even try to be silent; the man was already facing him. His shoulder length hair almost hung into his eyes and a grin spread over his face._

"_We meet again, fox-boy."_

The man in front of him stormed forward and grabbed Naruto's sleeve. He looked a bit surprised as he noticed that it was empty when he gripped the fabric tightly. He looked up into Naruto's fierce blue eyes. Naruto looked back into the narrow dull eyes of the man that had abducted him, and had been so kind to tell him he'd been poisoned by poison of Ryomaru's family.

Naruto grabbed a kunai and cut the sleeve off. He kicked the man in his face, bringing him down to the ground as he fell backward.

"That's thanks to my visit to you! And that was a small part of my payback."

Naruto turned the kunai into the direction of the grey haired man he had never seen before, having been blindfolded; only recognizing his smell and voice.

"I was just planning to talk to you; to ask you where the boy is," the man said as he wiped off the blood in the corner of his mouth on his sleeve.

Naruto wasn't planning on waiting to attack and jumped forward. The man quickly rolled over and nearly dodged Naruto's kunai that now stuck into the floor. However, the man was not fast enough to stand up, and Naruto kicked him in his stomach. "He doesn't have it anymore," Naruto told the man.

Then he heard two more ninja's coming from outside. As they opened the door, one of the two already started talking before really looking at the situation in the room. The other ninja, however, halted; seeing the man on the floor.

"Ika-san! Apparently the boy doesn't have it, but we saw-" The talking ninja noticed Naruto standing over their boss and quickly backed away. Ika took this chance to get away from Naruto, and hastily ran past the Hunter's henchmen (and his underlings), who still looked surprised when Naruto knocked them out.

Naruto grinned as he knew the man would not be able to outrun him. For a second he disappeared, and with the force of his acceleration he knocked Ika right through the door he had meant to open.

As splinters flew around, Ika made some interesting sound between the air being hit out of his lungs and a shriek. Naruto, with the force he had hit Ika, landed on top of the man. Sitting on top of him, Naruto looked up to see someone else in this room beside him and Ika.

Unconsciously Naruto growled at the man. It was none other than the Treasure Hunter himself. They were in a big hall, which seemed to have been a canteen once.

The Hunter looked down surprised to Naruto and his barely conscious number one.

"What the-?" The Hunter pushed some of his blue hair behind his ear.

Somewhat further away, Naruto saw one of the ANBU that had come in with him. He was fighting six other ninja. Naruto was just in time to see the ANBU pierce one of them though the heart with his sword.

"Long time no see, my precious boy," the Hunter said to Naruto, and Naruto's attention turned back to the sneaky man, who was turning one of his shiny rings around his finger. He appeared to be very relaxed, but even Naruto could smell his fear. He might have been a ninja once, but these days he probably wasn't even worth the fight to Naruto.

"Can't say I'm glad to see you," Naruto told him and slowly stood up. The man named Ika, who he'd been sitting on stirred, and Naruto knocked him over the head. Ika let his head fall on the ground with a soft thud.

The Hunter took out something of his long sleeves as Naruto stood up. "Don't come any closer. I still got that lovely poison we used on you."

Naruto stopped moving forward as he looked down to the poisoned dagger in the Hunter his hand. Perhaps he'd underestimated the man a little bit.

"I came here to get my treasure back, but you will do just fine. I'll just come back some other time to pick my treasure up." Naruto stormed forward, deflecting the Hunter's knife with a kunai. "Lost an arm, I see."

"You haven't seen it around then?" Naruto grinned and pushed the man away, trying to gut him with a swing of his kunai.

The Hunter quickly backed off. "No, can't say I have." He took out anther dagger and started stabbing out to Naruto. One of the daggers came awfully close to Naruto's nose, he had to back off a bit.

"He doesn't have it," a voice suddenly said, and Naruto looked over his shoulder to Ika. He probably hadn't hit him hard enough, though he was not even trying to stand up. He held his hand on his head. "The boy doesn't have it anymore."

The Hunter stopped. Another ninja came up behind him. "We just confirmed that the boy doesn't have it, Hunter-san." The Hunter looked angry. "But we have seen-"

The Hunter silenced the man by grabbing his arm and pulling him away. He didn't want Naruto to know what the ninja knew. And apparently he wanted to flee as he took off with the ninja.

Naruto wanted to follow him, but heard the ANBU behind him scream in pain as a kunai was pushed through his foot, pinning him to the ground. The ninja next to the kunai handling one, held his axe-like sword up, about ready to swing. The ANBU was about to duck and perform a jutsu when a third ninja grabbed him from behind. The other three ninja's lay bleeding on the ground or were knocked out.

"You're going to die!"

Naruto hesitated for a moment; go after the hunter or the ANBU. He noticed the ANBU could not escape, and so Naruto made his decision.

He made a Rasengan on his way over to the Axe-wielding ninja, and hit him right in the chest as he came to a stop in between the big ninja and the ANBU. For all the ninja's around him, Naruto had probably seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"Aaargh!" The ninja dropped the axe.

The kunai using ninja wanted to stab him in his foot as well, but Naruto was much faster and kneed him in the face.

In the mean time, the ANBU had gotten himself free from the grasp of the third ninja and used his Earth jutsu, causing the ninja to be covered in mud that dried very fast.

He pulled out the kunai of his foot and hopped over to Naruto.

"Can you catch him?" he asked, referring to the Hunter.

"I can try."

"Go."

Naruto was gone even before he had finished saying the word.

-o-o-o-

"_Tou-chan!" Akira screamed as he saw once again shuuriken coming to him, and he fell to the ground, covering his head._

_Sasuke took in a breath as he saw the projectiles fly toward his son. Quickly he turned around, on his way to his son to deflect the approaching shuuriken, but two hands grabbed his painful right arm, and twisted it._

"_Akira!" _

The shuuriken landed, but they didn't hit flesh; they hit the wooden floor instead.

Sasuke violently kicked the man in his gut, and found the chakra to perform a full body Chidori, effectively electrocuting at least three nearby ninja. Which had been a bit disappointing to Sasuke, but the high sound made him lose his control over his chakra.

"Akira," he said as he turned to see his son. He was alright, sitting next to the shuuriken in the floor, his arms around his knees and his head bowed. He was clearly frightened.

Sasuke quickly closed the distance between the two of them, and put his katana away. He lifted up his son, and hurriedly ran away.

Normally he didn't like running away from a fight, but the sound that still sounded through the air made him lose his control over his chakra, and he didn't want Akira to get hurt.

He ran to the direction where he'd entered the building, thinking the entrance Akira had taken was probably guarded. And since he was carrying Akira with his good arm, he wouldn't be able to do a lot with his bleeding right arm.

Instead of walking up the wall, he jumped up, afraid his chakra might not hold them as it was still unstable and they might fall. His injured arm painfully pushed open the window and he crawled through, quickly leaving the building.

He just kept going for a while until he finally stopped on a roof near an ANBU, which he knew was stationed there, and let Akira down.

"Are you all right? Did you evade all shuuriken?" he asked concerned as he looked down to the boy, kneeling in front of him.

Silently tears were falling from Akira's face as he had his head bowed to the ground. "I-I'm so s-sorry," he cried. "I-I..."

"You're not hurt?" Sasuke asked again, only interested in that right now. He tried to find anything wrong with the boy, but he didn't see anything except for the gash on his cheek.

"N-no," he sobbed and then gripped Sasuke's shirt again. "I-I promised... a-and I-I thought, I wanted to be a-a man a-as-" Sasuke tilted his head. "N-Naruto said and I-I I'm s-so sorry!" he sobbed.

"It's alright; you didn't know they wanted to attack you. We should have told you, but I was so afraid." Sasuke put his arm around the small boy.

Akira sniffed. "W-why?" How could his father be afraid?

"I was afraid you might get hurt. You did really great seeing it wasn't Naruto and avoiding those shuuriken."

"They were moving slowly," Akira said and looked up to Sasuke. Glassy teal eyes looked at him.

Sasuke gently took his face in his hand and looked into his son's eyes. Could it be? He smiled and kissed the boy on his forehead.

Akira looked up fazed at his father's action; he'd never kissed him before.

Sasuke stroked his hand through the raven hair, and pressed Akira again against his chest.

"I'm so glad you're safe."

-x-

The Hunter and the ninja's -one of which Naruto had recognized as the third familiar scent he had sniffed earlier, Sako, the man that had put the nails in his arm- had fled into the crowd, and Naruto had lost them. He had found Tsume however, and she said she would see what she could do.

Naruto wanted to go over to Tsunade, but he didn't think it a good idea, so he went looking for a nearby ANBU and told him what had happened. The ANBU would rely the information to the Hokage.

"Thanks." Naruto turned away as the snake masked man disappeared.

He still hadn't found Akira, and that ninja had told the hunter he knew Akira didn't have the object. What did that mean? Had they already caught Akira?

As much as Naruto had calmed down since he'd gotten outside, as much it returned in one second.

"Chikushou," he cursed as he jumped up a roof again. Akira could be bleeding to death, and Naruto had no idea where. He could be everywhere.

All he could hope for now was that Sasuke had been with him.

"Please, let them be alright."

-x-

Sasuke and Akira were walking down the street on their way to the hospital. Akira had finally calmed down, but he couldn't stop saying he was sorry. Finally Sasuke had promised him he would get to the hospital if he stopped saying 'I'm sorry'. His son had agreed.

Holding Sasuke's hand, Akira kept glancing at his bleeding arm. It looked quite painful and it was bleeding quite heavily, but Sasuke acted like nothing was wrong, and kept walking without saying he was in pain.

Akira admired Sasuke for this. He didn't whine or cry, and all Akira had done was cry and try to run away. He wanted to be a ninja, but ninja's didn't cry, right? Akira promised himself to try and be braver from now on. He wouldn't cry anymore.

Akira looked up when he felt Sasuke pinch his hand, and saw him looking down at him. "Don't worry, you did good."

"No I didn't," Akira said softly. "I cried."

Sasuke sniggered and Akira looked up, looking angry. "That's alright, Akira. You're still young."

"But I want to be a ninja. Ninjas don't cry!"

"Perhaps not, but you're still learning to become a ninja." Sasuke looked up again to try and hide a wince from the pain in his arm. "You'll be a fine ninja one day, one that doesn't cry; only once in a while."

"No, no crying at all!"

"It's not that bad to cry, Akira. Just know when is the right moment to do so when you are on a mission."

"When's that?"

"You will learn."

Akira wasn't satisfied with the answer at all, but he kept quiet as he saw Sasuke swing a bit. He looked very pale.

"Tou-chan, are you okay? You look white."

"I'll be fine when I get to the hospital, don't worry."

Akira looked around and saw Sasuke leaving a small blood trail behind. "Tou-chan?" he looked up as Sasuke swayed again. "Tou-chan!" Sasuke fell over.

"Sasuke." Naruto caught Sasuke and helped him stand. "Don't scare us like that!"

Naruto was so relieved when he found the small blood trail and noticed it was Sasuke's, and that Akira was with him. But the further he followed it, the more blood was on the street, and he got worried again.

"Don't push yourself, when you've lost so much blood!" Naruto scolded him, trying to get him better on his good shoulder.

"Is he-?"

"He'll be fine, we're almost there," Naruto reassured Akira.

Quickly they walked on to the hospital.

-x-

"So the plan completely failed?" Tsunade stated as she stood in a hospital room along with Naruto, Kakashi and an ANBU with a cat mask.

Sasuke sat on the bed with a cast around his arm. Since the sword had cut in the bone it needed to heal and grow back together again. Akira sat on the bed next to him, unable to let go of him.

"You could say that." Kakashi looked down to Sasuke and Akira clinging to him. "I can't believe Akira-kun actually got past the two of you."

Akira bowed his head in shame.

"I know. He's very tricky," Naruto said, slightly embarrassed.

"And very smart," the ANBU added.

"Don't encourage him, Yamato!"

Yamato turned to Naruto. "I'm not wearing this mask without a reason."

"Oh, come on, we all know it's you."

"Yamato-san?" Akira asked softly.

Yamato gave Naruto a look, but pulled off his mask nonetheless.

"Sorry," Naruto apologized, grinning.

"So you still got the items?" Sasuke asked. Akira looked up to Tsunade as well when his father spoke to her, and noticed the necklace she was wearing.

"The necklace!" he said, pointing to Tsunade.

"Yes, I'm sorry Akira, but I don't think you can get them back," she said as she held up the small statue.

"Okay." He looked up to Sasuke as if he really didn't care.

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked a bit perplexed. Kakashi elbowed him.

"Yes, I got more things from kaa-chan. Hokage-sama can choose whatever she wants," he smiled. "Except for Pom-kun."

They laughed and Sasuke stroked Akira's hair. "What about Pim?"

Akira shuffled and blushed a bit. "I-I... She can..." he looked up to Sasuke. "I want to keep him too!"

The laughing became louder.

"Don't worry Akira-kun, you can keep them, I only would like to have these two." Tsunade smiled at him.

"Okay," Akira said with a small voice as he looked down again, blushing.

Yamato put his mask back on, and together with Kakashi, Tsunade and Naruto he went outside of the room.

"I'm going to send that Hunter a good read," Tsunade said angry, she turned around to face the rest. "I need to take care of a lot of things. Neko-san, you know what to do." Yamato nodded and disappeared with a small 'poof' and some smoke.

Tsunade sighed deeply, looking up to Naruto. "I'm glad Akira-kun is alright."

"Me too."

"Tell me you at least kicked some butt?"

Naruto grinned to Tsunade. "Don't worry about that, you should be thinking up a way to negotiate with that man."

Tsunade stared back into his eyes and smiled at him. She turned away and started walking to the exit of the hospital, Kakashi started following her. "Be gentle with Uchiha, he needs his rest; he lost quite a bit of blood."

"You know I'm not the one out for a good night when my boyfriend is injured." Naruto opened the door and went back to Sasuke.

Tsunade laughed together with Kakashi at what Naruto had told her. "He's getting more open about it."

"He is," Kakashi agreed.

* * *

><p>"Oww, you're so cwu~te, Naru-chan!"<p>

"Did you just call me Naru-chan?"Naruto asked.

"Aw, look how adorable he looks when he pouts!" Anko was teasing him once again.

"I'm not pouting, and don't call me Naru-chan."

"Why not? Aren't we close enough?"

"No!" Naruto told her loudly.

"Is it because I'm living with your sensei-"

"Why would I care about who he-"

"But with such a beautiful woman as me-"

"You? Beautiful?"

"I guess gay men can't see."

"What?"

"You only have eyes for other men."

"No I haven't! I hate looking at other men like that!"

"I know Sasuke's here, but… is that what you really thin-"

"Anko!" Naruto crossed his arm over his chest and frowned. "I. Don't. Like. Other. Men!"

Anko stared at him for a moment before finding a new comeback. "What do you think of your Sakura-_chan_ over here then?" Anko grasped Sakura's shoulder tightly and yanked her closer. Sakura had been quietly conversing with Sasuke and Kakashi, and was quite shocked at the sudden pull.

"Anko?" She looked up to the purple haired woman before she was pressed against her chest; almost choking.

"What does that have to do with this?" Naruto asked, looking how Anko smothered Sakura in her breasts.

"You like looking at woman then?"

"I-" Naruto started protesting.

"I know you love Sasuke, but no person in the world doesn't look at someone else's beauty every once in a while." Anko eyed Sasuke's back. "If he'd been a bit older..."

Naruto couldn't stand Anko looking at _his_ Sasuke with those eyes. "Kakashi-sensei is standing right over there!" Naruto pointed to the silver haired jounin. Kakashi looked up at the mention of his name.

"Anko, please, you're killing my student," he said, looking at Sakura.

"Sorry," Anko said as she let Sakura go.

Sakura quickly took a few steps away from her. "Why me?" she asked softly to no one in particular.

"Oba-chan? Are you alright?" Akira asked, standing next to Sakura, pulling at her skirt. Sakura nodded.

Sakura was wondering why she was here again, standing in the garden of Kakashi's and Anko's house. Anko had invited them to come and drink some tea.

Anko continued her 'conversation' with Naruto. "Kakashi doesn't mind me looking at other men, he's so easy." Kakashi just stared at her, blinking slowly.

"Are you certain?"

"He knows I do it, and I say nothing about him reading his little perverted books."

Naruto in fact had nothing to say back at that. "That sounds... reasonable...?"

Sakura eyed Kakashi. "You even read those books when you're around Anko?" Kakashi shrugged.

"I honestly can't even imagine him without it," Naruto said, looking at the small piece of green that could be seen inside Kakashi's weapons pouch.

"Kakashi, you've been seriously degraded," Sasuke told him. Kakashi just looked like he couldn't understand how that had happened.

"You see?" Anko said. "So which woman do you like to look at when Sasuke isn't around, Naru-chan?"

"Stop calling me that!"

"Don't worry, Naruto, she only does this because she had a huge crush on Yondaime-sama." They all looked up to see Kurenai coming closer to the with weeds filled garden. Akane was walking next to her, and immediately Akira greeted her happily.

"Eh?" Naruto eyed Anko as he pulled up his nose. "Ew, that's just..." He took a few steps backward.

Anko had frozen up as everyone stared at her at the given piece of information.

"How do _you_ know?" Anko asked Kurenai.

Kurenai smiled and walked up to Anko, laying her arm around her shoulder.

"You told me so. Don't you remember?" She looked Anko directly in her light brown eyes.

"When?" she asked.

"It's true then?" Naruto asked with disbelief, but was ignored.

"About a month ago, on Sakura's and Sai's housewarming party." Anko's eyes widened. "You were really drunk, and began saying things like 'why did Yondaime had to die' and 'he was so amazing and I liked his blond-' and then I told you I couldn't care less." Kurenai waved her hand as she let go of Anko. "But you ignored me and went on, telling me how beautiful his eyes were and-"

Anko clasped her hand over Kurenai's red lips. "I get the picture. I was drunk." She grinned awkwardly.

"Tou-chan?" Akira was pulling Sasuke's pants, making Sasuke look down. "Wasn't Yondaime-sama very old?" Sasuke just stared at him. To a child of 5 years old, adults were very easily labelled 'old'; especially when he had heard only about the Hokage from a school book during a history class.

"He wasn't old when Anko was younger and still liked him," Kurenai explained.

"But..." Akira looked up to the Hokage monument. Akane beside him did too.

"Anko-san must be old too," Akane told him as an explanation.

"I see. Just like-" They both looked up to Kakashi.

"He is grey after all," Akane whispered.

"It's white or silver if you will," Kakashi told them. "I was born with it." However Akira and Akane weren't paying attention as they were whispering softly to each other. Sasuke smirked and Kakashi narrowed his lazy looking eye.

Naruto had backed away from Anko far enough to be standing between Sasuke and Sakura now. "I don't feel like having tea anymore, let's go home."

"I never knew," Sakura told Naruto as she turned away from Anko as well, like Naruto did. "And that she still-"

"I'm not still in love!" Anko almost yelled, and turned both Sakura and Naruto around. "Kakashi is my man!"

Kurenai nodded behind her. "That was your conclusion last time as well after you told me how much you love him." Kurenai paused. "As well as telling me how and why..."

Silence fell.

"I would have preferred you had kept that to yourself. I think Kakashi wouldn't have minded either."

A shiver ran down Naruto's spine, and Sakura was in a similar state. And Sasuke suddenly thought that this might have been had probably been the reason they had been together in the kitchen that night; and at that thought he couldn't suppress a shiver -that was accompanied with an eerie feeling- either.

The three of them backed away slowly, leaving the beginning forestation that was called the front garden behind.

"Honestly, that was just gro-"

"Wait! What about your son?" Anko pointed to Akira as he stood next to a particular large weed with Akane, measuring who of the two was taller than the green-stem-of-unknown-species.

Sasuke turned around and looked at his small son, just as he came to the conclusion he was smaller than Akane _and _the piece of weed. Akira looked sadly to the tall weed.

"I think he would like to stay over at your place."

"Are you sure you can leave him behind?" Naruto asked Sasuke, coming to stand against him. "She was just eyeing you not so long ago, and we all know Akira looks almost exactly like you."

Sakura nodded in agree.

"Hn." Sasuke seemed to think this over for a moment. "Akira, let's go."

Akira looked up to his father and then back to Akane. "Bye, Akane-chan. See you next week."

"Bye Akira-kun," Akane waved and hurried back to her mother.

"Why- How?" Anko sputtered and Kakashi walked up to her.

"I guess your teenage love for Yondaime scared them off," Kakashi told her as he put his arm around her waist.

"But…"

"Sorry, Anko, wasn't planning on ruining your party… It's just payback for what you did to my flowers," Kurenai told her.

"I-" but Anko had nothing to say to that. A couple of months ago Anko had visited Kurenai. Things had gotten a bit out of hand -like they tended to do with Anko around- and she had somehow found a way to squash Kurenai's precious poppies.

"Kaa-san, I'm thirsty," Akane reminded her mother again as she had done so before they had stopped here.

"Anko has some tea left; I don't think she'll mind." Kurenai laughed innocently like only she could do, and Anko growled softly.

"Oooh, fine."

-oXo-


	27. Chapter 27: Is that Sai's

Let's all thank MS3923 for beta-ing this chapter :3 And I hereby promise I will try not to write _intension_ instead of _intention_ anymore ^^

-oXo-

**Chapter 27: Is that Sai's...**

_17__th__ of October_

Kiba stopped and started sniffing. "Hmm, that smells good," he said. Akamaru next to him agreed with a soft bark.

Naruto stopped next to them and sniffed the air as well. "Oh, yes." He sniffed again. "It's from that direction, right?" Naruto pointed to his right.

Ino walked up to them and tried to smell that good smell as well.

"No, in that direction." Kiba corrected his location by pointing more to his left.

"I don't smell anything."

"Is it pancakes?" Naruto asked.

"Waffles." Kiba corrected him again.

Naruto sniffed a bit harder. "If you say so." Kiba's sense of smell was way better than his. When it came to smelling scents, Naruto expected he was as far from Kiba as Ino was from him.

"That sounds good," Ino said, as she still tried to catch the scent but was unable to do so.

Sai just stood staring at his companions.

The four... five of them were on a mission to get some information from a certain man. They didn't know exactly where he was, but they were close. The man, a rogue ninja, probably wouldn't want to give the information freely either.

"I'm hungry, let's check it out, ne?"

"Only because we got time, Naruto." From a reliable source they had heard the ninja would trespass this area soon.

"You're hungry too," Kiba told her, knowing that was the reason she had agreed.

Together they followed Kiba's nose to a small restaurant along the road.

At first when they had gone away on this mission, Naruto and Kiba had more or less ignored each other. The journey to their destination took about two days, until they had finally found this precise area.

When the group had started a conversation together, things had been kind of awkward between Kiba and Naruto, but since they were both talkers, they just had to start talking eventually. Within half a day everything was normal between the two of them; they had made a silent agreement, '_nothing had ever happened'_.

"I had this feeling something was going on between the two of you when we went on this mission," Ino suddenly said while ducking under a low tree branch.

Kiba looked up. "What do you mean?"

"Yes, I had that same feeling," Sai said, holding the branch up, and letting it go just as Naruto came behind him.

"Ouch, Sai!" Naruto grumbled something while pushing the branch out of his face.

"Sorry, I thought you would be short enough."

"Hahaa," Naruto said with mock. "Doesn't Sakura-chan give you enough attention?"

"You don't have to worry about that." Sai smirked... well almost, it seemed like he was trying, but couldn't quite grasp the right expression. So instead of smirking and making Naruto either angry or blush, it instead made Naruto laugh.

"What is that supposed to be?" He laughed, pointing to Sai's face.

Sai returned to his emotionless face, but on the inside he was a little bit (really just a tiny bit) hurt that his smirk hadn't turned out that well.

Ino put her arm around Sai's shoulder. "Don't worry Sai-kun, you almost had it. Sakura must be proud."

Naruto laughed only harder and Kiba joined him.

"Can you imagine-" Naruto started, holding his hand next to his mouth as he talked to Kiba.

"-that Sakura is teaching Sai emotions? I totally can do that." Kiba gave a bark like laugh.

"You two are just so-" Ino started, but Akamaru interfered with a bark.

"Yes, we're there," Kiba said to his dog.

"Aah, waffles," Naruto sniffed the air once more.

Ino picked out a table to sit, and they ordered something to eat.

"This is kind of a relaxed mission, isn't it?" Naruto asked as he leaned back in his chair.

"Probably because Tsunade-sama didn't want to give you a difficult one," Kiba smirked.

"She didn't hold back when giving me missions in the last months, so why now?"

"Because now you have a weird quarter of arm that's growing." Kiba looked down at the plate of waffled that was handed to him.

"I don't have a weird arm."

"It's weird. Have you ever seen someone's arm grow back?"

"I-" Naruto couldn't really think of a time he had. "No. Doesn't make my arm weird," Naruto muttered.

"It's alright Naruto," Ino leaned closer, her chest hanging over his food. "Let the idiot talk about being weird. Tell me something about you and Sasuke-kun."

"Huh?" Naruto leaned away from Ino as she kept pushing her breasts forward. "Ino, I-"

"You do get some alone time? I know it must be harder with little Akira-kun around, but-"

"Ino!" both Naruto and Kiba yelled.

"Come on, admit this is rather interesting." She looked over to Sai. "Sai-kun, help me."

"If you want to know how things are between them-" Sai slowly spoke while his eyes turned over to Kiba and Naruto. "You should check out their garden on a sunny day."

"Ah! Sai!" Naruto pushed Sai almost off his chair. Luckily for Sai, he was stronger and able to keep himself seated.

"They do things in the garden?" Ino asked a bit too enthusiastically.

"No!" Naruto quickly said, blushing.

"Yes," Sai calmly spoke.

"Ew, please stop talking. You are ruining my lunch!" Kiba held his hands over his ears.

"I think I'll pass by more often then," Ino said with a scary kind of smile.

Naruto swallowed. "No, you... I-" he didn't know how to tell her not to, still being kind of off by what Sai had said.

"I'm going to sit somewhere else." Kiba was about to stand up, but a cute waitress came walking to him.

"Are things not to your liking?" she asked sadly.

Kiba turned red. "Oh, no… yes! I mean, this is delicious. The best."

The girl blushed. "You're too much." She pushed Kiba softly against his shoulder.

"No you are, thank you," Kiba said, and finally turned back to his food with a smile, after the girl disappeared from view.

"That was just..." Ino had no words for it.

"And you say things about me when I'm around Sasuke. Have you ever seen me act like that before?" Naruto asked Kiba.

"Shut up." Kiba quickly ate his waffles and stood up. "Just finish eating. I'll go inside to pay already. You guys are just so slow." He walked away.

"Don't forget to tell her how much you like her eyes!" Ino yelled after him, Kiba ignored her, but they could see him stiffen a little at the words, which were apparently correct.

"He really can't flirt." Ino shook her head, and finished her own meal right after Naruto and Sai.

A little over fifteen minutes later Kiba returned all red in the face. "Let's go," was all he said before striding past them.

"Oh, Kiba," Ino said softly, "she rejected you, didn't she?"

"Don't know what you're talking about. We have a mission to complete. Especially for that I came back to you all."

Naruto snorted. "Right."

"We better get in position," Sai said as they approached the location. "Before we miss that ninja and fail the mission."

-x-

Naruto hunched down in the tree and waited for something to happen. He had been sitting in the same tree on the same branch for an hour and a half now.

"I thought this guy was coming soon," he mumbled softly to himself.

The others were hiding at different locations, to lessen their chance of missing the rogue ninja. Supposedly he would walk this part of the forest everyday around this time. They didn't need to catch him, they just needed information. The nukenin wasn't really a dangerous ninja in skills of fighting, but he knew something that was apparently important to Konoha.

The reason they didn't need to catch him, was because Tsunade was afraid of the consequences if they did. The village the man came from hadn't bothered to catch him, even though he was quite easy to track down. Tsunade had a feeling he might actually be a 'trap', so to say.

She had explained that the village had probably taught him to appear very easily to catch so that villages would just do just that, wanting to collect the money he was worth. In reality they would capture not a nukenin, but a spy, who would try to find out some information about their village they would rather not give away.

Suddenly Naruto could hear a soft sound far away. As he listened more closely, he found out it was music, strange music. It sounded foreign to him and he turned his ears into the direction.

"What is that?" he asked himself and focussed on the soft, gentle music.

He began to feel sleepy, and his eyes began to close. His eyelids were so heavy, he couldn't move his body anymore, and fell asleep.

Because he was hunching on a branch, he had no hold or anything, and thus fell out of the tree, down the sharp branches and into a thorn bush.

Some short distance away Ino heard the sound of Naruto falling, and jumped down to him, only to find him sleeping in the thorn bush. Not wanting to get scratches from the thorns herself, Ino grasped Naruto's arm and dragged him out of the bush as best as she could, leaving more scratches on Naruto's body than he had before.

"Why are you sleeping in a thorn bush?" she muttered. She hoisted him up and took him to a small clearing, where she would soon be joined by Kiba with Akamaru in his arms.

"He just suddenly fell asleep," Kiba told her as Sai landed beside him.

"I think Naruto as well." Ino looked down from Naruto, softly snoring, to Akamaru. "Did they smell something?" she asked. Her hand went up to Naruto's ears, softly pulling them.

"I didn't, and I was next to Akamaru." Kiba looked down to Ino's hand. Naruto didn't do much, his only reaction was trying to move his ears away. Ino giggled, but stopped when she saw Kiba staring at her.

Kiba shook his head and stroked Akamaru's head, trying to wake him up.

"It must be a jutsu that makes one sleepy. They heard it." Sai looked around.

Ino looked up to him. "Then we should be careful not to be hit by it as well." She looked down to Naruto and his torn up shirt. His fall into the thorn bush (and her dragging him out) had ripped his shirt open, giving him a lot of scratches. However, those were already healing in front of her eyes.

"Sai, you take the jutsu-caster out from a distance. As soon as you're done, Ino will get the information and you must back her up. I'll stay with these two." Kiba looked up to Ino and Sai.

They nodded before Ino and Sai jumped away. Kiba picked up both Akamaru and Naruto, who weighed somewhat the same -if not less- as his dog, and brought them over to a safer, more hidden place.

-x-

Naruto slowly woke up and moved to lean forward. As he did so, he scrunched his eyes shut and flattened his fox ears, giving a sort of animalistic whine.

"Ah, you're awake. Are you alright?" Ino asked.

"Itai~," was Naruto's only answer.

"Naruto?"

Naruto slowly let his ears go, but they lay flat on his head. "What happened? I only remember music."

"It was a jutsu. You and Akamaru fell for it, and you fell asleep," Kiba told him as he pointed to the still sleeping dog, looking a tad worried.

"Oh. Ouch." His hand went up to his ears, and then he noticed what he was wearing. "What happened to my shirt?" Naruto asked a bit shocked as he examined his sleeve. He followed the sleeve to the rest of the shirt, and gave a jerky motion at what he saw.

"When you fell asleep, you also fell out of the tree into a thorn bush," Ino explained as she got closer to him to inspect his ears. "Your shirt was all torn up, so I said you needed a new one. And since only Sai had some spare clothes with him..."

Naruto looked down at the belly shirt with one long and one short sleeve. He didn't like the feeling of a bare stomach, though it was a bit more covered than Sai's since the shirt was a little too big for him. The one long sleeve hung over his hand and the short sleeve was hanging half empty beside him.

"Thanks," he muttered, but not in a sincere way, more mockingly.

Ino reached over to his ears, and he pulled back.

"Don't pull back," Ino told him.

At that moment Akamaru woke up.

"Hey boy, you okay?" Kiba wanted to pet Akamaru, but when he came too close to his ears he whined, much like how Naruto had done.

Kiba pulled his hand back. "Naruto," he began as he looked over to Naruto with his hand still stretched to Akamaru, "Your ears hurt?"

"Yeah."

"Like in too loud a noise, beeping or..."

"Pain inside my ear; like someone is poking in it." He glanced to Ino as she tried to look into his ears, but his spikes were a bit in the way. "It feels like something is, er -how do you say it- like some liquid is coming out." He looked questioningly to Ino, and she carefully pulled away some spikes.

"But it's not," Kiba said.

Ino looked up to him and then to Naruto as he waited for her response. "No, but it is a bit sticky looking. Do you ever clean your ears?" Naruto just stared back with half closed eyes and pursed lips.

Kiba turned his attention back to Akamaru. "Just let me look, I'll be careful."

Akamaru whined, but let him reach for his ears nonetheless. As Kiba gripped the flap over his ear, he shook his head as if to get rid of an annoying fly. It was an automatic response. He whined again when Kiba lifted the flap, and peered into his ear.

"I thought so."

"What?" Sai asked.

"Ear infection, caused by the jutsu. If you hear the song it damages the ear, like this... Nothing you can die from, but enough damages to interfere in a fight." He let Akamaru's ear go. "You have to put up with it until we get home, so Hana can clean it. We better not do it ourselves, or we might damage something."

Ino nodded.

Naruto groaned when he stood up, his hand rested against the tree, and his ears went flat again. "Then let's get back." He took a few steps, but seemed to be reminded of something, and turned back to face the others again. "Did you accomplish the mission?" he asked.

"We did," Sai said and stood up as well, walking up to him.

"All the information is in here," Ino said as she pointed to her head.

"Good," Naruto said, and looked over to Sai as he stood beside him, poking him in his stomach. "What are you doing?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.

"You're just as small as your pe-"

"Sai!" Naruto warned him. "I'm not small!" This was still a rather sensitive subject to Naruto, even though he was almost back to his original weight. Plus he didn't like it when people called him small; especially not by Sai, as he compared his height to other body parts.

Sai grinned as he looked at the long sleeve completely covering Naruto's hand.

"Well, I think you can pull it off to wear something like this more often," Ino intervened as she stood up as well.

"Ino~." Naruto huffed.

"Yeah, it brings up your feminine side," Kiba said teasingly. Naruto and Sai exchanged looks as they watched each other's clothes.

Ino giggled. "Sai doesn't look girly."

"Hé?" Naruto sounded offended.

"And you look quite good too, with your nice tan ab-"

"Please don't go there," Naruto said.

"Yes, Ino, please don't go there," Kiba agreed as he slowly walked beside his dog.

"All I'm saying is that I think Sasuke won't mind."

Silence fell.

"Let's just move on," Kiba said with narrowed eyes.

"Yes, please," Naruto said as his sleeved hand went back up his head, not wanting Ino to think about him and Sasuke together.

-x-

They were almost back in Konoha, and Kiba was now carrying Akamaru, as he had been unable to walk on straight and had barfed twice already. Unlike Akamaru, Naruto actually looked quite fine. Of course his ears hurt and lay low on his head, and he sometimes shook his head for no reason, but he wasn't staggering or swaying. He was walking straight on.

"Man, Akamaru, you're heavy."

"You used to carry him all the time, when he sat on your head," Ino said.

"And now I ride on his back."

At the tone of voice Kiba had used, Ino decided not to say anything again.

"We're back," Ino said as they passed the gates.

"Finally, change of clothes," Naruto said as he headed to the Hokage tower to report their mission.

"Hey, Tsunade." Naruto walked into the office without knocking. The rest followed him inside.

"Knock before-" Tsunade's thin eyebrow rose. "You changed partners on the mission, gaki?"

"What?" Naruto looked down as Tsunade was looking at his stomach, and then realised she was talking about the clothes.

"I don't think either Sasuke or Sakura will like that," she grinned evilly.

"Baa-chan!" He flinched at his own loud voice, and Akamaru whined.

Of course this didn't go unnoticed by the Hokage. "What did you do this time?"

"I didn't do anything," Naruto huffed.

"No, in fact you slept," Ino grinned. A growl was the answer.

Ino explained to the Hokage what had happened on the mission, and how they had succeeded their mission.

"Good, you can go give the information to your father," Tsunade told her.

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

"Then I would like to take Akamaru to my sisters veterinary." Kiba looked over to Naruto and grinned. "I think Naruto should come as well."

"Wha-?" Naruto looked over to Kiba.

"Yes, I think so too."

"Wha-?" Naruto looked back to Tsunade.

"Your mouth is hanging open, Naruto-kun."

Naruto gave Sai an angry glare. "Oh, shut up." He turned around and left the office, following Kiba to his home.

-x-

Naruto watched in horror as Hana was cleansing Akamaru's ears. The dog was whining in pain, and Naruto had changed his mind about coming here.

"You know what, I think this will be over in a couple of days, perhaps hours, anyway, and my balance system is actually better than it was before so..." Naruto turned around to walk away, but Kiba grasped his arm, turning him back.

"Just because you're lucky to have two balance systems, so not missing one if it falls out-" he started.

"I wouldn't call it luck," Naruto protested.

"-doesn't change the fact that ear infections can be very dangerous," Kiba went on.

Naruto stared at Akamaru again, as one ear had been done and he tried to turn away from Hana. "Nah, the fox..." Naruto slowly said, as he watched Hana grab Akamaru in the scruff, and almost yank him back to start cleaning his other ear.

"Will heal this? When? In a week? Naruto, you just have to-"

"No, I'm fine." Naruto's ears lowered as Akamaru howled again. "Thanks for the offer though."

Before Kiba could do anything, Naruto had disappeared. "I hate it when he does that."

Naruto stopped on the market of Konoha, as his ears hurt again. No way would he let Hana do something like _that_ to him! He huffed.

"Changed your appearance to match Sai's?"

"Why is everyone..." Naruto grumbled as he turned around. "Yamato-taicho," Naruto mumbled his greeting.

"You don't look so good, Naruto. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." He looked up to Yamato. "Weren't you supposed to be on a mission with Anko and Kurenai-sensei?"

"I was; we just came back." Yamato looked at Naruto's still flat ears. "Are you sure you-"

"Yes, yes, some small ear infection. Will probably be over soon." Naruto waved his hand, the sleeve comically flapping with it.

"I told you it won't be over soon, and it's dangerous."

"Kiba..." He had followed him; Naruto growled.

"Oh?" Yamato said, and gave a nod to Kiba as greeting.

"If it gets too far out of hand, you can even become deaf."

"Nah, you just say that to-" Naruto said, turning away again and bumped into a tall man that smelled very good. "Sasuke?"

"You didn't know I was standing behind you?" Sasuke moved his cast arm away from Naruto.

"I didn't hear," Naruto said as he tried to push Sasuke away, but Sasuke held him at his arm.

"What are you wearing?"

"Oh, please..." Naruto sighed.

"Sasuke, you better tell Naruto he should get his ears cleaned; he has an ear infection," Kiba said. This only made clear how serious he was about this, asking Sasuke.

Sasuke noticed so, and glared down to Naruto. "Nothing I can't handle," Naruto said quickly.

Sasuke just stared at him, no real emotion on his face, just staring. Naruto obviously couldn't take that very long, as he turned away, facing Kiba and Yamato instead.

"You're in pain," Kiba started.

"Do you know what it feels like to grow back an arm?"

Kiba blinked. "No, and hopefully never will."

"In comparison to this, I can live with this pain."

"Is what he says now, but just wait until he gets home..."

-x-

"It hurts," Naruto mumbled through a pillow as he lay face down on the couch.

"I thought you could handle it," Sasuke didn't even bother to look around to Naruto as he sat reading something at the table, his cast arm hanging in a sling.

"I can; it will be over soon."

"How soon; tomorrow, in two days?"

"Probably," Naruto answered hesitantly.

"So instead of letting your ears be cleaned and be able to walk around without pain, in like three hours, you'd rather wait a couple of days?"

"You... you didn't see what it was like; the ear cleaning."

"But I do know what the result is."

"But..." Naruto knew nothing to say actually.

Silence fell, and Naruto thought over Sasuke's words. They did sound very interesting suddenly, especially coming from Sasuke. Sasuke could have that effect. He rolled onto his back, staring at the ceiling.

After a while Naruto sat up and slid off the couch. He laid his arm around Sasuke's shoulder, and laid his chin on the other one. He peered to what Sasuke was reading.

"You're reading a mission file?"

Sasuke closed it as soon as Naruto looked at it. "Yes, and it is classified ANBU information."

"Hm." Naruto pressed his cheek against Sasuke's, looking at what he was doing next.

"I'm bored," Naruto said after a while. Sasuke had started writing some report or so, but having some difficulty writing with his left hand. It was almost unreadable, which had amused Naruto for a while.

"Did you finish your report on your mission yet?"

"No," Naruto mumbled, "but I don't feel like doing that."

"Did you do the laundry already?"

"No," Naruto grumbled into Sasuke's shoulder.

"You can do the dishes if you're really bored."

Naruto huffed. He understood. As his mouth rested on Sasuke's shoulder, he scowled around, and moved his eyes over to Sasuke when he looked down to the mumbling blond. A grin spread over the raven's face -Naruto didn't like that- before he turned back to his writing.

Naruto stayed sitting like that for a bit longer, but Sasuke ignored him, and so when it began to feel like fluids were again dripping from his ears, he decided to lie back down on the couch. He just didn't want to let his ears cleaned. Absolutely not! He refused.

-x-

Naruto hadn't realised he'd fallen asleep; that he had been sleepy at all, but he woke up to the feeling that someone was moving his finger over his stomach, and to pain in his ears.

Naruto tried to sit up some, but he felt dizzy and lay back. "Sasuke?"

Sasuke looked up to him as his finger kept moving over his stomach. "Hm?"

"What are you doing?" Naruto asked while he moved his arm to cover his eyes.

"I must say, that I don't like you wearing Sai's clothes, but..." He moved his head closer to Naruto's normal ears. "But I must say I don't mind you being... exposed like this," he whispered softly.

Naruto groaned, but it wasn't a groan Sasuke had expected.

"Does it hurt this much?"

"My ears are hurting now as well," Naruto said.

"I thought they were already hurting."

"The other pair."

Sasuke pulled his hand back from Naruto's stomach, and peered into his normal ear. "Ears, nose and throat are connected to each other," he said, and Naruto had no idea what he wanted to say.

"What?"

"So perhaps your normal ears and fox ears are connected as well?"

"I don't care~," Naruto whined.

Sasuke grinned. "I told you to just let Hana treat you."

"I get it already," Naruto grumbled.

Sasuke held out his hand after he stood up, and pulled Naruto from the couch. Together they walked over to the Inuzuka veterinary. Naruto's balance hadn't been affected, but his normal ears were hurting quite badly now. He was actually glad when he sat down on the chair Hana told him to sit in, but when she got out the sort of water gun looking thing, he pulled back again.

"Wait, wait," he said as he backed off further, but Sasuke held him still.

Kiba was standing in the corner of the room, his arms crossed, and a grin on his face that said 'I told you so'.

"No. Wai~t," Naruto tried to struggle against Sasuke's grip, while the gun like thing got closer to his ear. "Wai- Aargh!"

Hana was cleaning his ear, and Naruto made all kinds of arm gestures, trying to get away, but Sasuke held him firmly into place.

"Itai~"

When Hana had done one ear, Naruto became a bit calmer when she proceeded with the next ear, only trying to move away every now and then, when the cleaning hurt. Instead Naruto began whimpering and whining softly, showing he was thoroughly annoyed by her actions.

When she was done, Naruto lowered his ears, and didn't let anyone touch them after that; he didn't even touch them himself. Grumbling his thanks to Hana, he hurriedly left the veterinary shop to never return, or so he promised himself.

"I hate you," Naruto mumbled to Sasuke.

"But later today you're going to love me again."

"I seriously doubt that."

"You need someone to check your other ears?" This earned Sasuke a very, very dark and evil glare. "I guess I was pushing my luck anyway."

"Hngrrr," Naruto growled softly.

Naruto sighed as they walked home, and he suddenly stopped. Sasuke stopped too, looking down to Naruto. "What's wrong?"

Naruto let his head fall against Sasuke's chest. "I hate you~," he murmured.

Sasuke smiled and put his good arm around Naruto. "Yes, I hate you too."

"Don't change the meaning of the word."

"I didn't," Sasuke smirked.

"Ahh, Sasuke, Naruto, hugging in public?"

Sasuke turned his head to the side and glared at the approaching ninja.

"They are becoming more and more open, don't you think, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Yes, it certainly seems so."

They stopped just in front of Sasuke and Naruto, Naruto still not having moved from Sasuke's chest. "Can you hit them for me?" he mumbled in Sasuke's chest.

"With pleasure."

Sakura stared at Naruto.

"Are you- wearing Sai's clothes?" She narrowed her eyes a little as she changed her question.

Naruto growled lowly. "Yes. Go on, make fun of me. Just say it… I'm short." He moved his arm around, making the sleeved hand comically wave through the air.

Sakura watched him and opened her mouth to say something, but then Naruto looked up, his ears low, and he looked so sad and kind of cute with his big blue eyes, pouting slightly, and indeed small in Sai's shirt.

"Ow~, I can't," Sakura said.

"What's wrong with you? Is it your arm?" Kakashi asked.

"Not really, it's having a break or something." He turned back to Sasuke and hugged him again, while Sasuke stayed standing as he had done all the time.

"Hana just cleaned his ears," Sasuke clarified as he tried to get his cast arm out of the sling underneath Naruto. Naruto groaned.

"Don't remind me."

"Why? Were they dirty?" Sakura asked.

"I don't want to talk about it again. Sasuke~"

Sasuke laid his hand on Naruto's back and patted it. "Some jutsu messed up his ears."

"Sasuke~"

"Was the cleaning painful then?" Sakura asked next, looking down to Naruto.

"It was done with some sort of water pistol."

"Wasn't it healing by itself?"

"Sasuke~"

"Not really, no." Sasuke gave Sakura a look that there was more to it, but before he could say anything else Naruto had disconnected himself from Sasuke, and turned 90 degrees away from the rest to start walking away.

"I still hate you," he told Sasuke.

"I know." Sasuke kept watching Naruto, not moving away from his spot.

"Wait, Naruto, Tsunade-sama wants to talk to you," Sakura called after him.

Naruto stopped and turned around. "Now?" he whined.

"Yes, now."

"Muu." Naruto dragged his feet back to Sasuke, and waited for him to move away first.

"Oh~, Naruto." Sakura moved her hand over his cheek. "You look so awful."

Naruto gave her a dark stare.

-x-

Together they walked over to the Hokage tower without Kakashi, who had better things to do (hmm, what could that be…).

"Baa-chan, you wanted to see me?" Naruto asked completely joyless, shuffling into her office.

Tsunade was about to say something about the baa-chan she wasn't really used to anymore, but stopped when she saw Naruto drop himself into a chair. "Yes, about the Treasure Hunter."

Naruto sighed. "What about him now?" He let his head fall back.

"Just because you don't feel good, is no reason to be rude," Tsunade told him. Naruto glared at her, before straightening his back some. Tsunade waited till he was completely straightened up before she proceeded. "We haven't heard anything from him, and he will not have another chance like the festival to get into the village." Naruto didn't say anything, so Tsunade continued. "I wanted to contact him, to arrange a meeting. I want this thing off my shoulders. At least Akira will not be a target anymore, but we can't be certain they will not try anything stupid."

"So? You want my approval or something?" Naruto asked.

"Yes."

"What?" Naruto hadn't really meant what he'd said. "Really?" he asked unbelievingly.

"Yes, because I want to send you to him."

"Me?"

"Are you sure, Hokage-sama?" Sasuke asked looking at her with almost a frown.

"Yes, the three of you. Of course I'm not planning on just giving him these things," Tsunade pointed to the statue and necklace, "but I want to show him that we are serious about this, and perhaps show him the consequences of what he did during the festival."

Sakura cracked her knuckles, and Naruto looked up to her. "With pleasure," she smirked. Sasuke was smirking too, and Naruto felt a bit weird that everyone was so keen on revenge for what that man had done to him, while he couldn't care less at the moment. Perhaps there was a reason for that, as he didn't really care about anything at the moment, only for a nice soft bed.

"So that's settled then. I'll let you know at what date you can look him up."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama."

Sasuke lifted Naruto from the chair, and guided him back home. At their house Naruto slumped onto the couch, planning not to stand up for quite a while.

"Where's Akira-kun?" Sakura asked as she accepted the teacup Sasuke gave her.

"Still with Akane."

"They are really good friends, aren't they?" Sasuke nodded. "That's so nice. If you want, I can pick him up later, because I would like to show Akira-kun something." Sasuke looked at her, and Sakura smiled, her green eyes sparkling. "We especially changed the small room in the house to be his bedroom, for when he stays over," Sakura smiled.

"That's very kind of you," Naruto muttered sleepily.

"Well, you gave me a big responsibility being his godmother," Sakura said happily. "I want to live up to it."

After the Kyuubi festival, Sasuke had decided that Akira needed godparents in case anything ever happened to him and Naruto (he didn't think so, but you never know; they were ninja after all), and so he had talked about it to Naruto. Naruto had agreed Sakura was the best option next to Kakashi.

"Then you can pick him up," Sasuke said nonchalantly, but the corners of his mouth were slightly curling up.

Sakura looked up to Naruto as his mouth was hanging open a little bit, showing his canines. "Oh, your arm," Sakura suddenly said to Naruto, who looked to her with curiosity, sleepily opening his eyes.

"What about it?" he blinked a few times.

"It's going to hurt," Sasuke told him.

"How do you-" Naruto stiffened. They were right and he grabbed his arm. "Itai~" Then he looked down, and understood how they had known. The seal was showing, and with Sai's shirt still on, it was visible to the rest as well.

Naruto sat tensely, folded up in the corner of the couch, until it was over. Sakura watched him carefully while the arm grew, listening to Naruto's growls and snarls.

Sasuke had already gone to the kitchen to get some meat ready, knowing now how things were going every time this happened. First the bone grew , next the muscles and flesh, sometimes at the same time, and afterwards Naruto's canines had grown as he needed meat.

Then Naruto relaxed some, and blood started oozing out of the wound of his growing arm, onto his stomach.

"The pain isn't becoming lesser, is it?" Sakura came to sit beside him.

"No, should it?" Naruto asked as he tried to move his piece of arm towards her, which wasn't really doing as he told it to do. Sakura bandaged him up, and Sasuke gave him a plate filled with meet.

"If I wasn't in pain, I would say I'm in a spa."

Sakura laughed. "Getting bandaged in a spa?"

"Being taken care of."

"How are your ears?" Sasuke asked.

"Strangely, quite alright."

"I told you so."

"Hmpf."

"Well, I'll go pick up Akira-kun," Sakura said as she finished the bandage, and stood up. "You can bring Sai's shirt back when you've washed it." She grinned.

* * *

><p>Kakashi sat in a small bar, watching the two persons a few tables away with nothing short of amazement. All he had wanted to do was drink one glass, and head back home to Anko, but he had been in the bar for almost three hours now.<p>

He had never expected to see this when he'd entered the bar, and had no intention of going away before seeing how this ended. He had an excellent view, and could clearly see the faces of the two.

The raven, who was quite red in the face, held a small plate -where once sake had been in- in his hand, and one empty sake bottle stood next to his cast arm, which was lying on the table. The blond next to him, equally blushed red, was giggling, and his hand was travelling under the raven's shirt up his chest. Seven empty sake bottles stood next to him.

Even though this was already quite an unusual sight for Kakashi to see his students in, it wasn't the reason he couldn't leave the bar. The fact was that Sasuke was not only smiling, but actually laughing (quite loudly too for the Uchiha); Naruto was touching and kissing Sasuke in public (he never did that, ever), and both were _giggling_ uncontrollably.

On top of that, Kakashi had been trying to follow the conversation they were having, which was most of the time making no sense to him at all, but sure made him laugh.

Naruto laid his head on Sasuke's shoulder once more, looking at him from this position. "Sa'ke." His tail was happily swirling and swishing behind him.

"Hm? You want more?" Sasuke eyed the seven empty bottles.

"No, I'm calling you Sa'ke." Naruto began giggling, as he saw Sasuke pull up his nose.

"Then I'll call you Naru-chan." Sasuke grinned.

"Noooo, not Naru-chan." Naruto pushed Sasuke a little with the hand under the white shirt of the Uchiha.

Sasuke laughed and placed his own hand on top of Naruto's over the fabric. "I know you don't mind." He bowed closer to Naruto.

"I do."

"Because Anko called you-"

"Exactly." Naruto straightened his back, as if he was proud of what he'd just said.

"But now _I'm_ calling you Naru-chan." Sasuke looked sadly to Naruto, and Kakashi almost snorted at the sight. "You don't mind if it's me?"

Naruto considered this for a moment, his ears twitching on his head. "Oh~, I can't be mad at you." Naruto leaned closer and kissed Sasuke on the cheek. Sasuke smiled.

"I knew it, Naru-chan."

"Hmm." Naruto seemed to be thinking again. It seemed quite a difficult thing to do. "Sa'ke-chin?"

"Eh?"

"Sasu-rin?"

"Naruto, don't do that."

Naruto moved away from Sasuke, even though his hand was still captured by Sasuke's. "Why? You call me 'chan'."

"Sa'ke is bad enough."

"Your name is just unable to become cute," Naruto muttered disappointedly.

"It's because it's a real ninja's name," Sasuke said, while putting his arm around Naruto. "Ninja's aren't supposed to be cute."

"Really?" Naruto grinned. "I think you're cute."

"No, you don't. Not cute."

"Handsome?" Naruto started giggling and Sasuke joined him. Kakashi snorted.

Somehow seeing and hearing all this fascinated Kakashi. He wasn't used to see his students like this. It was strangely funny, and with the chance they might not remember this the next day -and thus his chance of teasing them about it-, might have something to do with it as well.

Sasuke and Naruto were very opposite on the outside. Naruto blond hair, blue eyes and tanned skin. He loved wearing at least one piece of orange clothing, and smiled a lot. Sasuke on the other hand had dark hair and eyes, wore dark blue and white, almost no bright colours except for the red in the fan symbols. He seemed most of the time almost emotionless, or unable to express any 'real' emotions, just scratching the surface of those emotions like being happy or angry.

They seemed so different at first glance, like they shouldn't fit together, but on the inside... On the inside they were exactly the same. Not just the fact that they had no family or that they were ninja's. They knew the other so well, that they just had to belong together. They complimented one another, they could feel what the other thought as well in real life as in being a ninja, and knew what they should do for each other to be happy.

It was quite uncommon Kakashi thought, but they deserved it. Naruto had never really known love before he had made his first friends when he was 12. Sasuke had known love, but had lost it, and forgot how it could be to be loved again. And then they found each other. Two 'love-less' boys giving each other so much love.

These were all truths Kakashi had come to understand over the years that he knew the boys; by now men, actually. They were no longer the young students he could so easily impress. They now impressed him all the time.

All these facts made it all the more interesting to watch them sitting like this in a bar, tipsy. There were no limitations anymore, they just said and did what they thought and felt like doing. This was so unlike Sasuke that Kakashi had started laughing after he realised what had been going on. Even Naruto, who had always already been very loud and unable to screen his thoughts very well, was a sight to see. Strangely enough it fitted them.

It was almost like they were acting the way they actually always should. Perhaps how they would have been without all the misery in their lives.

Kakashi shook his head. He really should head back home. Not that Anko would mind it if he stayed, or that he felt like going back to see her. It was already two in the morning, and he was tired.

Naruto was now twisting one of Sasuke's bangs around his finger, while Sasuke's hand had disappeared around Naruto's back, into his pants and shirt; his cast arm resting on Naruto's lower back.

"Hey, Sasuke." Naruto swayed a bit, and finally landed with his chin back on Sasuke's shoulder.

"Hm, Naru-chan?"

"I was just thinking-" Sasuke began giggling, and Naruto hit his arm. "I can do that!"

"I never doubted that... dobe." Naruto hit Sasuke once more.

"I was just thinking," he started over.

This time Sasuke's response was his hand moving over his buttocks. "Hn?"

"Remember that time after you had become a jounin and we celebrated that?"

"Hm," Sasuke confirmed.

"You said you would have liked to have children."

"Hn."

Naruto looked up into Sasuke's eyes; his own eyes seemed to sparkle. "Do you still think so, now that you have one?"

Kakashi had been about to stand up, but lowered again. He was curious about this, and leaned in closer, as if that would help him hear them better.

"Yes, I do." Sasuke smiled.

"You would like to have more?"

"It's fine."

Suddenly Naruto started saying in a whispering voice -but still loud enough for Kakashi to hear-, "I just had this crazy idea..."

Sasuke eyebrows rose a little, Kakashi's as well. Naruto started giggling, and Sasuke got curious. "What, Naru-chan?"

"This is really stupid, but just hear me out." Naruto's giggles became worse, and he tried to calm down, which wasn't working.

"What?" Sasuke asked impatiently, wanting to know. He removed his left hand from Naruto's pants.

"I-It's just really a-absurd," Naruto giggled. "You can laugh a-afterwards."

"Tell me first then."

"Okay." Naruto took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "What if," he opened his eyes again, and immediately started laughing. "I-I'm sorry, I c-can't even say it."

Sasuke was starting to look a bit annoyed, because he really wanted to know now. "Tell me~," Sasuke actually whined and Kakashi's eyebrow rose once more this evening. He'd lost count how often.

"Oh, Sasu." Naruto leaned over to Sasuke and whispered something in his ear. Kakashi couldn't hear anything of it, but as Naruto came to the end, his giggles became worse and Sasuke was joining him. Finally Naruto couldn't say anything anymore, or was just finished, and both doubled over from laughter.

"That's j-just ridiculous," Sasuke said.

"I-I said so."

"Really, absolutely impossible."

They loudly laughed together, the two other men left in the bar besides them and Kakashi, turned to look at them for a moment, but they were too drunk to keep their attention on them for too long.

"Well, would you _if_ that were possible?" Naruto asked after a while, calming down.

"I don't know," Sasuke answered, calming down too.

"I think I would, but not here. I would go away to a deserted place for a year."

"Hn." Sasuke closed his eyes for a moment. "I guess I would rather have them be some experiment. I wouldn't want to walk around with something like that inside."

"Not an experiment, that's horrible. I'll carry them for you."

"You're the best." Sasuke kissed Naruto on the cheek first, but slowly moved over to his mouth; placing his left hand on Naruto's back once more and pulling him closer with his injured arm.

By now Kakashi's curiosity was almost getting the better of him. He had no idea what they were talking about, but they had turned quite serious while talking about it.

After their short make-out session, Sasuke closed his eyes and hummed softly.

"What are you imagining?" Naruto asked with a rising voice, sounding curious.

Sasuke smiled, his eyes still closed. "You."

"And?" Naruto got closer to Sasuke's face.

"Akira."

"And?" Naruto pressed, his hand stroking through raven hair.

Sasuke chuckled.

"Does he look like me?" Naruto asked, and Sasuke's smile became wider.

Kakashi had no idea what Sasuke was picturing, but he sure seemed to like it. _Who was looking like Naruto?_

"Yes, of course."

"But he has to have your eyes."

Sasuke shook his head. "No, yours are nicer."

Naruto pouted. "Are not."

"They are. He will have your ears too," Sasuke giggled.

"No~, he can't."

"Tail?" Sasuke asked.

"No!"

"Too late, he already has."

Naruto pushed Sasuke once more. "No, he can't!"

"Alright, he can have my eyes. Okay?"

Naruto smiled. "Okay." He kissed Sasuke.

"But with a tail."

"No!"

"He has."

"Oh, alright," Naruto huffed.

He hugged Sasuke. "And what else?"

"I guess a little girl too."

Naruto nodded in his chest. "She will look like you," he said before Sasuke could speak.

"Why?"

"You are beautiful," Naruto said, not leaving Sasuke's chest.

Sasuke started playing with Naruto's tail. "But you're-"

"Too late," Naruto said, smiling. "She already does."

"You can't do that, it's my fantasy."

"I just did," Naruto said.

Sasuke growled softly. "That's not fair."

Kakashi had an idea what they were talking about now, but decided this was as far as he would listen. He really needed to get home; things were starting to get out of hand here. Plus his mind began picturing things he rather didn't want to.

He stood up and with one last glance at the hugging pair, paid for his drinks (more than he'd intended) and left. Even if he heard more, he just couldn't tease them about this. It was just too innocent. He couldn't tease them about a subject like that, they were just dreaming of a family; he couldn't blame them.

He shook his head; he had stayed too long.

-oXo-

I'm slowly working to the end of this story; very slowly, I'm so buzy these days. Just to inform you all.

Review? :3


	28. Chapter 28: A new pet for Akira

Thank you new readers for the alerts and favourites :D And my beta for correcting my English ^^

-oXo-

**Chapter 28: A new pet for Akira**

_23__rd__ of October_

He was making some sandwiches, but he had trouble making them with one hand. He sighed. Naruto came to stand behind him, and used his hand to hold down the sandwich so that Sasuke could cut it.

"Just pretend you have two arms." Naruto stuck out his tongue.

"I have two arms." Sasuke slowly pulled his arm out of the sling around his shoulder, and laid his hand on top of Naruto's. "You see, I could still do this without your help."

"That's cheating."

"How is this cheating?"

"You can't use it, it is supposed to rest."

"It is, it is!" Akira was pulling at Sasuke's pants. "Oba-chan will get mad!"

"You should listen to your son." Naruto walked away from Sasuke to the living room. "I got a mission with my team later on."

"Tou-chan?" Akira looked up to Sasuke a bit shyly.

"What is it?" Sasuke noticed he wanted something.

"You want to help me with practice later?" He looked up hopefully, balancing on the balls of his feet shyly.

"Of course."

"Thank you, tou-chan," Akira smiled, hugged his leg, and ran into the garden.

"You got nothing else to do anyway. You need to rest," Naruto grinned.

"True." Sasuke stood in the door opening, looking down to Naruto.

Naruto looked around to Sasuke with a confused look on his face. _He agreed?_ "How come you agree with me?"

"I think..." Sasuke hesitated. "On the day of the Kyuubi festival, I think Akira actually awakened his Sharingan."

"Really? Are you sure?" Naruto shook his head. "Of course you are sure." He walked up to Sasuke.

"I haven't seen it, but the way he..."

Naruto smiled. "You're happy, aren't you?"

Sasuke looked down to Naruto. "I am." He waited a moment. "Is that wrong of me?" he asked softly.

"Of course not, I'm happy too." Naruto took a step closer to Sasuke. "Isn't it what you wanted?"

"That's why... Isn't it wrong for a father to hope something like that?"

"But I know you wouldn't have minded if he hadn't."

"That's what I kept telling myself; what I told him."

"Don't worry about it Sasuke. I swear, sometimes you are over thinking things too much." Sasuke huffed. Naruto smiled and hugged him, laying his head against his chest and shoulder.

After a moment Naruto leaned back and looked up to Sasuke. "Just make sure you have fun today, and don't give the boy a trauma." Sasuke frowned and Naruto smirked, knowing full well Sasuke would take things easy. "Give me a kiss, so I can go to my team," he demanded from Sasuke, already standing on his toes, waiting for Sasuke to close the last few centimetres.

Sasuke couldn't deny Naruto a kiss, so he did, making it a longer one than Naruto had anticipated, and laid his hand on Naruto's behind. After a while Naruto pulled back, blushing ever so slightly -making Sasuke happy when he saw that- and left the house.

"Bye." He waved.

Sasuke stayed staring at the empty spot where Naruto had disappeared from the room for a moment longer. He liked to make Naruto blush, and it wasn't hard at all.

Still smiling he turned around to walk outside, and sat down on the porch. Akira had already collected his practice materials, and was waiting for Sasuke while looking at the koi in the pond on a safe distance. Sasuke had actually made a line in the ground, because Akira had the tendency to slowly shuffle closer to the pond while watching the many fish, even though Sasuke had told him not to get to close; he still couldn't help but unconsciously ignore his father's rule. So Sasuke had made the line in the ground after Akira had made another dive into the water.

Sasuke watched how Akira was hunching and staring at a particular big orange koi fish. He was whispering to it. "Are you having a good day, Ken? Tou-chan and I are going to practice with the shuuriken together. He said he would help me," he whispered excitedly. "I really like it when he helps me. I'm going to be as strong as he is." The fish came up, looking like it was taking air, opening and closing its mouth. Akira looked up to the porch and saw Sasuke sitting there, watching him. "You gonna watch us, Ken?" he asked quickly, looking back to the koi fish. "But be careful." He stood up and ran to Sasuke.

"You ready?" he asked with a high voice.

Sasuke smiled. "I am. Show me what you can do."

Akira was gone before Sasuke could blink, showing his father that he was able to hit the round target a few times, and could at least make his other shuuriken land very close to the tree now, not getting further out of range than a meter or two.

After half an hour Sasuke stood up and hunched down behind Akira. Akira stopped in the middle of a swing to throw the shuuriken, to turn around and look up to Sasuke.

"Go on," Sasuke encouraged him. So Akira turned back and continued throwing.

After two throws Sasuke reached forward and slowly grasped Akira's throwing arm. Akira looked over his shoulder, surprised.

"Move your arm a bit more like this." Sasuke adjusted his arm a little bit. Akira nodded and tried again. After a couple of throws he got the hang of it, and indeed his aim was improving.

"Tou-chan?" Akira asked, throwing another pointed object at the poor wooden target.

"Hn?"

"Am I learning faster than Naruto already?"

Sasuke stared at Akira's black hair for a moment, before realizing he was referring to their conversation when he had started throwing shuuriken for the first time. Sasuke had told Naruto Akira would be better than him, learning faster.

"You certainly do."

Akira stopped and turned around. He handed Sasuke the shuuriken he had been holding. Sasuke took it, looking a bit surprised at his son.

"You throw?" he asked, looking expectantly.

Sasuke smiled and stood up. He threw the practice shuuriken Akira handed to him for a while.

"Do you remember what happened on Naruto's birthday? At the festival?" Sasuke suddenly asked, and Akira stiffened, almost letting the next shuuriken drop. He nodded, looking down at the shuuriken in his hand.

"When we were in the big building, and the fake Naruto and ninja's were throwing shuuriken at us...?" Sasuke waited for Akira to look up, and hand him the next shuuriken. "You dodged those."

Akira carefully smiled. "I did," he said shyly.

"I'm really proud of you that you were able to do that." Akira's eyes widened so fast, Sasuke had to do a double take at his son. He smiled and continued. "Do you remember how you did that?"

"I'm not sure." Akira handed Sasuke the last shuuriken.

When he looked at the target again, he saw the pattern his father had been throwing the shuuriken in. "What's that?" he pointed to the three comma-like shapes.

Sasuke hunched down again, and looked into Akira's eyes. "You remember when we talked about the Sharingan and what it could do?"

Akira tilted his head. "I do?" he asked.

Sasuke's eyes became red with three black tomoe, connected by a thin black circle. Akira gasped. "The comma's."

He'd seen Sasuke's Sharingan before, when Sasuke had been really angry at him for falling in the pond for the umpteenth time and then had come walking into the house with muddy clothes. However, seeing as Sasuke had been angry at him, be hadn't actually been paying a lot of attention to the shape inside the red eyes.

"Tomoe," Sasuke told him. "They are called tomoe."

"Tomoe," Akira tried the word.

"I think you have the Sharingan too," Sasuke slowly told his son.

Akira just stared at him. "You think so? How?" Suddenly he was wondering if it hurt to get red eyes like that. Wouldn't he have noticed?

"Don't worry," Sasuke told him when he saw Akira's expression change into something close to worry. "It doesn't hurt, and I'll teach you how to use it."

"You will?"

"Of course. It's a clan thing," he said mysteriously, though he wasn't aware that he did so.

Before he knew what was going on, Akira was hugging him. Sasuke smiled and folded his good arm around Akira's small form.

-x-

They were walking on some dirt road leading to a small village just outside Konoha. Team 9, with their sensei in front, calmly walked on, talking.

"And what does she want us to do then?" Eri asked, holding the straps of the backpack she carried on her back in her hands.

"Deliver whatever is inside that backpack you're carrying, of course," Kenji said, his head held high and eyes closed.

Eri hit his shoulder. "Of course I know that, but what's inside?"

"P-perhaps she doesn't want us to know?" Ryomaru asked.

"Or sensei just likes to 'surprise' us again, trying to be mysterious about it," Eri said, looking up to Naruto, who was walking in front of them. His tail started swirling around at the accusation, but he didn't reply. "Sensei~"

"Yes, Eri-chan?"

Eri huffed, crossing her arms and puffing her cheeks.

Kenji looked at her and smiled. "Just ignore him, and don't act surprised when he tells us what's inside. Eventually he will no longer think that it's funny to surprise us."

Eri looked back to Kenji. "You sure have been thinking about that."

"My stupid brother has the same tendency."

Eri laughed softly. "But your brother is nice."

Kenji became red, ever so slightly. "No he isn't," he worked himself up.

"I have a feeling every child says he hates his older brother or sister, but in reality-"

"No," Ryomaru suddenly said, and both Kenji and Eri looked at him. Naruto's ears turned in his direction as well, as he was silently listening to everything that was being said. "My sisters are a bother too." He crossed his arms and nodded.

"But you fall into the same category as Kenji does," Eri said.

"Perhaps children _without_ older brothers or sisters all think it's so great to have an older sibling?" Kenji interjected.

"But-"

"You fall into that category, so you can't say anything about it," Kenji hit Eri with her own words.

"Damn. Sensei? What do you think about that?" Eri asked.

"I'm sorry, but I fall into the same category as you do. I don't have any siblings," Naruto said without turning around.

"Oh."

"So we will not be able to solve this," Kenji said, hoping to close this conversational topic with it.

"It's funny that both you and Ryomaru-kun are the youngest in the family, and both Naruto-sensei and I have no siblings."

"But Ryomaru has how many sisters? I got one brother, and he's bad enough as he is."

"I got four older sisters," Ryomaru softly informed them.

"I don't think I've actually ever met them?" Eri said.

"Be thankful." Ryomaru looked up to Eri. "W-well, you probably wouldn't think they're so bad."

"Why would you say that? Because I'm a girl," she asked smiling.

"P-partly, but you seem to get along w-with everyone." Ryomaru fumbled with the hem of his shirt.

"Oh, but I don't."

"It sure seems like it," Kenji said and then quickly turned his head away.

"Well, I didn't used to be like this." Eri shrugged.

"Why?" Ryomaru asked, unable to imagine Eri not being nice (the way Kenji and she acted around each other didn't count in his opinion).

Eri became red. "I was a bully back at the Academy."

Ryomaru's mouth fell open, and Kenji stared at her as well.

"Really?" Kenji asked with disbelief.

Naruto turned around to, walking backwards. "I didn't see that one coming."

Eri kept blushing. "I-I was just... I was always alone, with mom and oba-chan away on missions. I wanted to have friends."

"Bullying is not a good way to get friends," Kenji told her.

"I know now!"

Suddenly Ryomaru stopped walking. "No."

The others stopped as well and looked around to him.

"What is it, Ryomaru-kun?"

"No, that time-" Ryomaru pointed to Eri. "Y-you were..." He looked a bit shocked.

Suddenly Eri's face fell too. "No, you're..." she pointed to Ryomaru as well.

"That big scary girl that pushed me into the water!" / "You're that small boy with shoulder length green hair!" they said at the same time.

"Ryomaru had shoulder length hair?" Kenji snorted.

"That's not the point," Naruto told him.

"I never thought..." Eri walked up to Ryomaru and looked up to him, as tall as he was for his age. "You were so small back then."

"And you were really big and scary." Ryomaru looked away. "I had nightmares about that incident, you know."

Eri put her hand in front of her mouth in embarrassment. "I'm so sorry, Ryomaru-kun." She hugged him, and Ryomaru turned bright red.

"E-Eri-chan?"

"Is it my fault you don't like water?"

Ryomaru couldn't answer. He wasn't afraid of water, he could swim and all, but he wasn't fond of it. He rather stayed away on a safe distance.

"I'm so sorry!" she said again.

Naruto started laughing softly. "And you two never realized?" He looked down to the two. "Eri-chan, you better let go of Ryomaru, before he passes out," he said on a side note.

Eri let go of Ryomaru.

"How could you not have recognised each other?" Kenji asked. "How many people have green hair?"

"Eri-chan is just not the same anymore," Ryomaru muttered. "She's much nicer."

"He was so small. Look how tall he is now! He was the tallest of our class, remember?"

"I noticed," Kenji said, looking up to Ryomaru.

"And we were 6 or something."

Ryomaru nodded.

"Ah, well." Kenji shrugged and started walking again. The rest followed his example.

"I stopped bullying other children when I was 10!" Eri told him, hoping that would help 'clarify' her name.

"That was when you came into our class," Kenji said pensively.

"It was." Eri said, looking down. "My mom had scolded me so badly, and had been able to arrange a class transfer with a lot of difficulty. It was my only chance, she said, to ever become a ninja if I still wanted to."

"Wow, seriously, you must have been a real mean girl back then." Kenji smirked.

"Didn't they have a n-nickname for you?" Ryomaru asked. Eri froze.

"No, no, they hadn't," she said a little too quickly, walking on faster; even past Naruto.

"So they had," Kenji concluded.

"It was something with scary..." Ryomaru mumbled, thinking.

"Scary Eri?" Naruto asked, laughing.

"No, it wasn't!" Eri said, turning red. She was still walking up front.

"You mean, you were Sceri? I've heard of you." Kenji grinned.

"Yes, that was it!" Ryomaru said.

"Sceri? What does that mean?" Naruto asked.

"It's a mix between scary and Eri." Kenji clarified.

"Aha."

"Mo~," Eri muttered. "Please can we talk about something else?"

"Sure, Sceri," Kenji said. Eri gave him a dark look.

-x-

Their client turned out to be the local hair dresser of the small village. She had requested for some new scissors and combs. So she had ordered those from Konoha. A perfect D-rank mission.

When Eri had opened the backpack, to hand the contents to the woman, her face fell in disappointment. All Naruto could do was laugh.

"I told you that it becomes worse when you act interested," Kenji told Eri.

"But I-" Eri didn't finish her sentence, handing the objects to the woman in front of her. "Here you go," she muttered.

"Thank you, little girl."

As disappointed as she was, Eri wasn't even bothered by the 'little'. Together they went away, back to Konoha.

"You know how sensei likes to make fun of us," Kenji told her again. Eri shrugged. "You're quite dumb, Sceri." This got him the intended reaction he wanted.

"Don't call me Sceri, and I'm not dumb, baka!" Eri tried to hit Kenji, but he side sepped.

Kenji smirked, and almost walked into Naruto when he suddenly stopped in front of him. Just able to evade his sensei, he stepped away. "Why did you stop?" he asked irritated.

Naruto was sniffing the air. "This is a good place."

Eri sighed. "We already had a break. Can't you wait a bit longer for your next ramen-"

"I'm not hungry." Naruto turned around, facing his team. Eri 's eyebrows rose.

After a while Naruto was still looking down at them, without having said a word.

"Naruto-sensei?" Ryomaru asked, seeing his other teammates getting agitated by his lack of explanation.

Naruto smirked. "Nah, never mind." He turned away again. He loved fooling his team.

"Sensei~," three whining voices called after him.

"I swear I hate foxes," Kenji muttered.

"As you very well know, I'm not a fox. Don't believe anything Akira tells you." Naruto walked back to them. Kenji just stared at him.

"Kenji-kun..." Naruto cooed, earning him a glare when he said the added 'kun' to the name of the boy. "You have to loosen up a little."

"You have a reason for stopping us, do you?" Ryomaru asked softly.

"I do." Hopeful faces and a frowning one looked back at him. Eri hit Kenji on the arm, signing him to stop frowning.

"What? Something new?" Eri asked Naruto excited.

"What new?" Naruto asked confused.

"You gonna teach us something new?" Eri asked impatiently.

"Um, sure, if you would like that." Eri jumped up, Kenji stared at her, not believing she had bought that, and Ryomaru fiddled with his fingers. "I was thinking-" Naruto started, getting the attention back. "Let's play a game."

"A game," Kenji repeated monotonously.

"A game?" Eri asked hopeful, smiling.

"A game," Naruto repeated.

"What g-game?" Ryomaru asked.

"I'm the bad guy."

"What?"

"You have to catch me." Naruto smiled, his tail swishing.

He got three stares as answer.

"You're kidding, right?" Kenji asked, crossing his arms.

"Nope."

Suddenly Eri shrieked, making Ryomaru jump. "I get it, I get it!" she yelled.

"Eri! We are right next to you!" Kenji told her off, rubbing his left ear.

"Get what?" Ryomaru asked confused.

"A foxhunt!"

Naruto's face fell and his tail fell down too.

"F-foxhunt?"

"Yes, Ryomaru-kun, can't you see? Foxes are really hard to catch, and sensei is too! And he's very sneaky, and fast, and he has a tail, and ears, and he-"

"Thank you Eri-chan," Naruto tried to silence her.

"I bet he actually really has a fox for a mother. He's been lying to us ever since-"

"E-Eri-chan?" Ryomaru stuttered, turning red, afraid of what she was doing.

"She's right," Kenji suddenly joined Eri, and Ryomaru's mouth fell open. Naruto looked stunned too.

"You see," Eri said. "And after we catch you-"

"-we will have to take the fur," Kenji finished.

"That's what you do when you catch a fox," Eri said.

Naruto's mouth was by now hanging open too. "Wha-?" He looked at his two students, not believing what they were saying.

"I always wanted a tie, a red one." Kenji said seriously.

Naruto was speechless. They were kidding right? But Kenji... Kenji never made a joke! They were telling the truth? They weren't kidding him?

"Hahaa!" Eri suddenly laughed and pointed to Naruto. "Got you!" Kenji smirked.

"Huh?" Naruto looked from the one to the other. "You were-" Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"That's payback!" Eri yelled, smiling. Naruto flattened his ears on his head. "The look on your face!"

It took fifteen minutes before Eri could stop laughing. Naruto pouted, turned around and started walking away.

"Sensei? You can't take a joke? You're joking all the time."

"Not all the time, Eri-chan."

"A lot then."

"Often," Naruto offered.

"Okay, often."

"I g-guess we're not going to play the game anymore?" Ryomaru asked, still not believing Eri _and_ Kenji had fooled him too. They had worked together to get back at Naruto. He was a bit stunned.

Naruto suddenly stopped once more, this time startling all his students.

"I know something better." He mumbled something, and Eri could swear she heard him say something with 'no foxhunt'.

"You're serious this time?" Kenji asked.

"Of course I am. Can't you tell?" Naruto pointed to himself. Kenji gave him the look, Naruto ignored it.

"This is a perfect opportunity to improve your sneaking-skills."

"Sneaking-skills," Eri said, sweat dropping. Sometimes Naruto and ninja terms didn't go together. "That's not what you call-"

"Let's go. There are some chuunin coming closer, and I would like to scare the daylight out of them."

"Perfect job for Sceri, isn't- itai." Kenji rubbed his shoulder where Eri had hit him, frowning at him.

"Stop calling me Sceri."

"But it's a cool name. It would scare everyone."

Eri didn't know what to say, and instead followed Naruto and Ryomaru into the bushes.

Sitting on a branch, Naruto told them exactly how to sense another chakra, to lower their own, and his plan to scare the poor approaching Konoha chuunin.

"You know them, don't you?" Kenji asked suspiciously. The answer was a foxy grin. "He does."

They crouched down, and Naruto was proud of them. They really were talented in this area. He didn't need to convince them to do this or anything, because they were eager to do this too.

The two unknowingly Konoha chuunin, dressed in ninja clothing, came closer.

"I swear this is getting out of hand."

"Don't whine, I already know!"

"But honestly, she has been sending us for the third time this week already! The _third_!"

"I know, I know. You already told me twenty times now."

"But aren't you-"

They could see the two getting closer now. They were walking down the small dirt road, carrying something. Kenji narrowed his eyes to see better. One of the two had his hita-ate tied around his head like a bandana. He had brown hair hanging around his face. The other had black spiky hair and a bandage around his face, across his nose.

_Wait a second... Aren't those two-?_

Naruto was about to give the signal for them to jump up to the two chuunin, who spend most of their time guarding the main gate of Konoha, when he stopped. His ears perked up and he looked around.

"What is it, sensei?" Eri whispered from beside him; they all sat on the same branch.

"What's that annoying sound?" He kept looking around.

Koketsu and Izumo were passing them, down on the dirt road, still not knowing who where so close to them.

"What sound?"

"It almost sounds like..."

Naruto turned around to the sound, only to get something black thrown in his face. It felt like a leather towel. He almost fell out of the tree, only saved by Ryomaru.

"Bleh, what-?" He tried to get it off.

"Could it be-?" Eri said as she studied the leather towel, leaning closer.

"No-"

"It's-"

"Kou-chan!" Ryomaru said happily, petting the bat as it made happy sounds, hugging Naruto (read sucking his chakra).

Kenji rolled his eyes.

"You're back!" Eri tried petting the small black bat too, while Naruto tried to get Kou off his face.

"He really m-missed you," Ryomaru stated, looking at the bat clinging to Naruto's face, while Naruto pulled at the small bat's body.

"Let... go..." Naruto mumbled. "You can sit... on my shoulder." He pulled at the bat again.

Kou's eyes shone evilly and he (accidentally) let go, mowing his tiny claws in the direction of Naruto's shoulder.

"Sasuke's going to be so happy to see you," Naruto said sarcastically.

-x-

Naruto stepped on the porch where Sasuke and Akira were sitting. Sasuke was showing Akira how to clean and take care of the shuuriken, with his cast right arm holding the shuuriken while the left made the movements.

"Carefully!" he told Akira.

"I am!"

"But it's sharp."

"Tou-chan, I know!"

"Haha, Sasuke take it easy; you think Akira-kun wants to cut himself?"

"Naruto! How was your mission?" Akira asked happily.

"I actually met an old acquaintance."

Sasuke gave him a look that said he probably didn't want to know; afraid for the stories that might follow.

Naruto grinned and turned around. "Kou-chan!"

The bat on his back crawled up his left shoulder, so Naruto turned back. Kou peered over his shoulder, immediately his glimmering eyes stared at Sasuke.

"Not that fu-"

"Ooh! Can I pet him?" Akira shouted enthusiastically.

Naruto hunched down so Akira could reach up to the bat, carefully scratching his small head with one finger.

"Hello Kou-chan, I'm Uchiha Akira!" The bat closed its eyes as he was scratched under his chin, unable to stare at the small boy similar to Sasuke, both in name and looks.

"I think he likes you."

"Why are you here, Kou-chan? On vacation? Shouldn't you be asleep?" Akira asked.

"I met Kou-chan just before I met you. He likes my chakra, and I guess he's hungry."

"Chakra? You can eat that?"

"No, but Kou-chan can."

Akira looked up questioningly, letting his finger glide away from the bat. "It's different than with tou-chan's hawk."

"It is."

Sasuke had summoned a hawk a few weeks ago, showing Akira. Akira had been very excited. However, when Naruto had turned home, the hawk had flown away, and Akira had been disappointed. Naruto had told him that most animals didn't like him.

Naruto stood up again. "Oh Sasuke, don't pull such a face." Naruto walked over to him, and leant over him so he could give Sasuke a kiss, but Sasuke pushed him away as the tiny black eyes kept staring at him.

"I will not kiss you with that thing around." He stood up and walked away.

"But bats aren't snakes." Akira was very confused.

Naruto turned to Akira. "Eh?"

"Tou-chan doesn't like snakes. Doesn't he like bats either?"

"Ha, he doesn't really think badly of Kou-chan, bu-"

"I do!" Sasuke's voice sounded from the living room.

"But he is a bit jealous of Kou-chan." Naruto smirked when he he heard Sasuke growl.

"Jealous?" Akira asked.

"Because we are so close all day. Sasuke wants to be close to me too."

"Oh."

"Not any longer!"

Naruto laughed. "We'll see. I have a suspicion you'll miss me and want me back really soon."

"Hmpf."

"Because you can't live without me."

Sasuke definitely couldn't deny that.

"So. I feel like eating carrots. I guess I'll have to cook anyway. You want to help?" Naruto asked Akira.

"Yeah! Does Kou-chan need anything else than chakra?" Akira immediately started questioning Naruto about his small friend.

* * *

><p>They were sitting in the living room and Sasuke was almost sleeping, but refused to go to bed with Kou still on Naruto. He'd slept with that stupid animal for a week now; Sasuke had had enough of it.<p>

"You better get rid of it!" he fumed.

Naruto looked up to Sasuke away from his card play with Akira.

"Ah, I was wondering when you would finally say that?" Naruto held out his hand with cards to Akira. "The third one."

Akira took the third card from the right and laid it on the table. Then he looked up from Sasuke to Naruto. "Get rid of what?"

"Hm, Sasuke is just thinking out loud." Naruto pointed to Akira, mentioning it was his turn.

Sasuke grumbled softly.

After a while Naruto laid his cards on the table as he'd won another game. "It's bedtime."

Akira yawned and nodded. He began collecting all the cards.

"You better get rid of it," Sasuke repeated and disappeared upstairs.

Naruto watched Sasuke walk away, and then helped Akira collecting the cards.

"Ne, Akira-kun?"

Akira looked up to Naruto. "I was wondering. Perhaps Kou-chan would like to sleep with you for a night?" He glanced down to the bat, which looked up innocently as it hung to the front of his shirt, dangling on one claw, looking up curiously.

"Really? Kou-chan would want that?" Akira looked down to the small bat, and put his finger on its head.

"Come on, Kou-chan. You like Akira-kun, don't you?" Naruto carefully grabbed the bat and tried to pull it away from his shirt, but it kept holding its tiny fingers onto the fabric, quickly grabbing it with both hands.

"You will not be woken up by my screams of pain," Naruto told the bat. In the past week his arms had been hurting quite a bit, especially at night. Akira had even become used to it, and could now sleep through Naruto's cries of pain.

"Kou-chan," Naruto said sternly. Kou still didn't let go.

"Please Kou-chan. It will be like a sleepover," Akira smiled, still holding his arm out.

Kou looked from Naruto to Akira, and back. Naruto quickly pulled the bat as he was distracted, and it was loose. "Ha."

Kou struggled against the moving away from the delicious chakra. He gave a sad sounding squeak.

Naruto placed the bat on Akira's shoulder, and Akira petted it. "Hello," he smiled gently. "Please stay tonight? Plea~se?" Apparently Kou couldn't resist that and decided to stay, but he turned his back to Naruto in protest nonetheless.

"Thanks Kou-chan."

"You want to see my book with all kinds of animals?" Akira started talking to the bat, and it slowly turned around while Akira walked up the stairs to his room.

"And don't suck his chakra!" Naruto told the bat. He smiled when he heard a slight sound similar to a sigh. He started walking after the boy to his own shared bedroom. When he opened the door to the bedroom, he noticed Sasuke was sulking in bed, and had already put the lights out. Naruto grinned.

Quickly Naruto undressed up to his boxers, and crawled into the bed, hugging Sasuke. "I know it was hard for you. A whole week."

"Hm."

"A whole week without me to play with."

Naruto started kissing Sasuke, moving his hand lower, and laid it at the inside of Sasuke's thigh, rubbing over his boxers.

Sasuke gave an uncontrolled spasm, and couldn't help it, but he really liked it. "Hmm," he moaned. He had missed Naruto touch him like this. For over a week!

"So you give in?" Naruto moved his hand closer to Sasuke's groin.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled.

"I know, you just don't like extra eyes when we… play," Naruto purred into his ear and started licking it. Naruto moved his hand over Sasuke's groin.

Suddenly Sasuke turned around to his other side, and pressed Naruto against his chest. "I admit, I can't take it any longer. I need you."

Naruto smirked. "I knew it."

They kissed each other, and soft moans could be heard in the room every now and then.

Naruto moved his hand over Sasuke's torso as much as he could, while Sasuke laid his broken arm under Naruto's head, out of the way, and grasped Naruto's hair with the other.

Naruto moaned into the long kiss Sasuke gave him, and teased Sasuke by trailing his fingers along the band of his boxers. Sasuke arched his back at the soft, teasing touch. So he pulled his leg up over Naruto's leg.

Naruto's purr hitched for a moment before he folded his arm around Sasuke's lower back, pressing the two closer to each other. Sasuke moaned at the friction below.

He couldn't take it anymore, and had to ask, he didn't think he could stall things any longer. "What about-?"

"Already sleeping." Naruto kissed Sasuke's cheek. "So you don't have to hold back any longer." Naruto moaned as Sasuke moved his hands over the base of his tail. He started purring.

Sasuke pushed Naruto onto his back, and pulled his leg over Naruto so he was straddling him. He started kissing Naruto's chest, making Naruto moan. His right arm rested beside Naruto, the other arm supported him, resting his elbow on the other side of Naruto while playing with Naruto's hair and ear. Naruto's only hand was resting on the waistband of Sasuke's dark blue boxers.

Sasuke knew what Naruto liked him to do to him, and Sasuke wanted to show him how much he liked his blond. To let him know that he couldn't let that bat near their bed again. The kisses went lower and lower, over the seal and to his boxers. He put his fingers around the band and let them glide to the back, to unbutton his tail. At that Naruto moaned again and bucked his hips up.

Gently Sasuke lowered the boxers with both hands, clumsily holding the piece of cloth with his injured arm, and proceeded his path of kisses further down to the growing erection; where he stayed for a short time.

"Sas," Naruto moaned, needing this as much as he did. "I want to touch you." He was unable to touch him like he wanted to.

Sasuke moved his head up and leant over Naruto again, kissing his mouth and cheeks. Naruto started pulling Sasuke's boxers down as best as he could, and Sasuke helped him as best as _he_ could; after some awkward movements they finally succeeded.

The same hand that had helped Naruto, went to his legs and slowly moved up on the inside of his legs till it reached his thigh.

Naruto moaned, interrupting his continues purring, as he felt Sasuke prepare him; his hand lying on Sasuke's backside.

"I thought you really needed me?" Naruto whined after a while. That was all Sasuke needed to hear.

He laid both hands onto Naruto's hips and pushed forward. He moaned. Naruto tightened his grip as Sasuke came closer to him; inside him. Sasuke started moving, and both were making sounds of pleasure.

Sasuke began moving his hips faster, and looked down onto Naruto's flushed face. He felt rather warm himself as warmth was coming from inside of him.

"Ah, 'ruto," Sasuke moaned, his hands still resting on Naruto's hips as he looked down to the blond.

Naruto was moving his hand over Sasuke's waist while Sasuke moved.

"Hmm," Naruto replied, and bucked his hips as Sasuke had just hit the right place.

Sasuke fastened his pace, and saw how Naruto's head fell back onto the pillow from pleasure; he was close. So was he.

"Sasu- aargh!" Naruto's moan became a scream. Sasuke was startled by it, stopping his movements in shock.

"No, don't stop. Aah!" Naruto told him, his purring stopped.

Sasuke couldn't move, but Naruto gripped his waist tighter, indicating him to move again. So Sasuke slowly did.

"What's wrong?" he asked worriedly, panting.

"Nothi- aah. No! Keep moving." Naruto's ears lay flat on his head.

"Nothing? You call that nothing? You're screaming in pain?" However, Sasuke did what he was told, while growing more concerned as well. He moaned. "I'm not- not hurting you?"

"No-ah, no," Naruto closed his eyes, and turned his head to the side as he groaned from both pleasure and pain. His fingernails dug deeper into Sasuke's side, and his tail couldn't stop sweeping around.

Then Sasuke realized what was going on, but Naruto kept wiggling under him from pain, which did pleasant things to him, making him lose his thoughts for a moment.

"Hnn, your arm," he finally managed to say between gasps.

"Aargh, yeah." Naruto grinded his teeth, and pulled his head back again. "Don't s-stop," he almost begged as Sasuke felt him cramp up his muscles.

Sasuke was torn; he was having a good time, but he was worried as well, which made this a whole new kind of experience. Clearly the same was going on in Naruto's mind.

"Sasuke~," Naruto moaned as he gripped his growing arm. "Y-you're making me… so happy."

Sasuke couldn't help it, he was so close now, Naruto's voice, his squirming, the muscles pulling together… he was lost. He reached his high.

"Aah," he sighed happily, and almost stopped moving once more.

Naruto grinded his teeth again before he gave a yell from pain. Sasuke could actually see the bone growing, muscles painfully slowly wrapping around it, tissue forming.

Naruto took in a sharp breath, and Sasuke began moving again, even though he hadn't completely recovered yet. His right hand moved away from Naruto's hip to his erection.

Naruto moaned, and Sasuke knew he was close as well, even thought things seemed to go in waves right now; pain, pleasure, pain again… pleasure.

The raven bent forward and started kissing Naruto on the lips, his cheek and chin, wherever he could touch, trying to help Naruto decide he was feeling the pleasure more intensely than the pain.

Naruto's breath hitched, and he cramped up again, but not from pain this time. Finally Sasuke could let himself fall beside Naruto as they both panted.

"That was… weird," he said.

"Wasn't it?" Naruto tried to grin. "But it was so much better to," he took in a deep breath, "to handle the pain this way."

"Really," Sasuke smirked.

"Thanks for… not stopping." Naruto closed his eyes, and Sasuke laid his hand on his flushed whiskered cheek.

"Glad to help you." Naruto was off to sleep and Sasuke smiled. That had been really scary and very exciting at the same time. He kissed Naruto's cheek and laid his head down, ready to sleep as well, though he didn't think he was as tired as Naruto; his heart was still beating rapidly.

* * *

><p>Akira was sitting on the porch. It was early in the morning. His father and Naruto were still in bed, but he wasn't alone. Moving his legs back and forth, hanging over the edge of the wooden deck, he moved his head to his shoulder.<p>

"You see, Kou-chan. That bird is a robin. It comes by a lot. I called him Robin, because he is a robin." Kou actually rolled his eyes. "I think he really likes that big chestnut tree."

Akira pointed to some more things in the garden, more birds, telling all the fishes' names. Standing behind the line and pointing them out and eventually went back to the porch, sitting silently watching.

Kou looked up to the small boy, and tilted its head when it saw Akira's thoughtful expression.

"Did you know tou-chan has this eyes that can turn red?" he asked the bat suddenly, looking down. Black eyes stared back. "It's called the Sharingan. It's a clan technique." He smiled proudly, puffing his chest. "I'm an Uchiha too!"

Kou blinked its shiny eyes.

Akira slumped down again. "Tou-chan thinks I have it too." His legs stopped moving. "But I couldn't show him yesterday," he said sadly. "He said it was alright though."

Kou had no idea what the boy was getting at. Was he sad to disappoint his father? Kou understood a lot about humans, more than most animals, but not enough.

"I wonder what kaa-chan would have said." Akira fingered his black shirt with the Uchiha fan on the back. "I hope she would have smiled."

Akira looked down to the bat as it lowered itself to the front of his shirt. "Do you have parents? Did you like them?" Kou blinked once more.

"Really?" Kou had no idea what the boy thought he'd just said (in fact he hadn't said anything). "You must have a lot of family somewhere. I only got tou-chan left." Akira petted the bat. "But I have friends, Hikaru-kun, Akane-chan and Naruto is fun too!" He smiled. "I love tou-chan!"

Kou pulled up his nose at the mention of Sasuke.

-oXo-

A/N: Haha, Eri and Kenji got their revenge ^^


	29. Chapter 29: The fan and the swirl

**Chapter 29: The fan and the swirl**

_7__th__ of November_

Kazuko was a little early, but she liked to be on the field before her students arrived (having some time to read her 'romance' novels). However, when she was about to walk onto the training field team 9 used, for a joined training session, she noticed him. She froze on the spot as she saw Naruto standing a little further away.

She knew she wouldn't be able to win him over, but that didn't mean her feeling for him could just vanish. She still very much liked him, but she was honestly trying to fall for someone else.

Though, Naruto wasn't making things easy for her as he stood there only in his boxers, water dripping off his chest. He was standing in a small puddle of water, recently created by some jutsu.

Then she noticed he hadn't seen her yet. He was looking away from her, over his right shoulder. The arm that was growing on the left side was about to reach his elbow in a little while. It was bandaged up, so the end wasn't visible.

"Why did you do that?" Naruto asked and Kazuko stiffened. "I was almost dry!"

Kazuko looked over to the place Naruto was looking, and saw a tall man coming from the foliage. He was quite pale for someone who lived in Konoha with plenty of sun, and his hair was black with a blue shine over it. He wasn't bad looking at all, but he just wasn't really Kazuko's type.

He stopped and looked over to Naruto, a smirk on his face. "You look way better when you're wet," he said.

Kazuko quickly glanced around. He wasn't noticing her either. It probably was because some trees and bushes blocked her mostly out of view. Plus they seemed quite focussed on each other.

Kazuko smirked. There was a third reason they did not notice her. In her years of being a ninja, she was famous for the excellent use of that one jutsu. She was brilliant at erasing any signs of herself, even in moments like these in daily life. Stealth was her field of expertise. She wasn't known as the 'invisible woman' for nothing.

"Mo~, Sasuke. What if my team, or team 4 shows up early?"

"We'll see what happens then."

Naruto pouted, and Sasuke came closer to him.

Sasuke? Of course, how stupid could she have been; that was Uchiha Sasuke. As if the fans on his jacket didn't say enough. Kazuko could slap herself in the face, but she wasn't about to let the two know about her presence yet.

She had never liked the Uchiha, acting all arrogant; and that look on his face. She had been to one of his hearings, the one that had been publicly. That was when she'd decided that he was no good at all. After all he'd done, Konoha was just letting him back in. And how? A half year of prison detention and demotion to only doing D-rank missions for about a year after that. That was nothing compared to what he'd done. He deserved so much more punishment.

And then Naruto, the man of her dreams, tells her he is with not only a man, but of all the men in the world together with _him_. She had tried to make Naruto see he was with the wrong person, but she had failed. She wouldn't try it again though, but still… this feeling deep inside of her made her want to jump and kick that black haired man in his handsome and arrogant face.

Then she saw the way he was acting around and looking at Naruto. He wasn't arrogant at all; he was smiling ever so slightly, but smiling nonetheless. And his eyes looked so tenderly to his blond boyfriend. He wasn't looking like the man she had seen at the hearing at all. Was this what he was like? What he was really like? Or was he only like this around Naruto?

He was now so close to Naruto that their bodies were only 30 centimetres apart. Naruto's wet hair was hanging in his face. He peered through it while water was dripping onto the ground from his hair and his chin. His wet ears stuck out between the flattened spikes.

"You act like you don't care if anybody sees us, but you never do anything in public," Naruto muttered. That wasn't quite true.

"And you do?" Naruto pouted. "You, just like me, don't like public attention in that way," Sasuke responded.

Naruto couldn't deny that. "But still, you don't even want to touch me." Naruto knew he was overreacting, because it wasn't like Sasuke didn't touch him at all when they left the house.

Sasuke knew what Naruto was trying to do, so he didn't take the bait. "You want me to?" He reached up to Naruto's face, but didn't touch it yet. His fingers hovered just a few millimetres from Naruto's wet skin. He was teasing Naruto.

Naruto looked at the hand, and knew that Sasuke wanted him to lean into it. So he didn't. Just like Sasuke, he could play this game too. He looked up into Sasuke's dark eyes.

"You think you dare to do it?"

Sasuke smirked and lowered his hand to Naruto's chest. "You don't think I do?" He waited for Naruto to react in the slightest way. Naruto blinked, and Sasuke placed his hand on Naruto's chest.

Kazuko watched with fascination how the two talked, and slowly got closer to each other. Sasuke first touched Naruto's chest. His hand started moving over the tan skin of the blond, going lower and lower. When it came to the waistband of his boxers Naruto stopped him by kissing him on the mouth. (Naruto had officially lost their 'contest').

Kazuko slowly lowered herself into the foliage without realizing it. A blush crept up her face. She had never been into yaoi, and hadn't liked the Uchiha at all, but the combination of the two (with the main ingredient being Naruto)... it was strangely exciting to her.

Naruto wrapped his tail around the both of them, and Sasuke moved his hands up and down over Naruto's sides and back (apparently not caring if the cast around his right arm got wet). Naruto's hand was gliding through Sasuke's hair. His ⅓ arm slowly moved up a little, like it was trying to embrace Sasuke's waist.

They kept kissing for quite a while, but eventually Sasuke pulled back and straightened himself up. Naruto, just like Kazuko, thought Sasuke had finished and wanted to move away. So Naruto was about to take a step backward when Sasuke grasped his tail, and pulled him back.

Naruto yipped before giving a moan when Sasuke started licking and kissing his neck and shoulder.

Kazuko noticed she was drooling by now. Quickly she wiped it away, and lowered even more into the bushes. She wondered if she could keep herself covered very well for much longer; she felt like squealing or something.

"Aaaah, my eyes!"

Kazuko jolted at the sudden scream, and so did Naruto and Sasuke, having been absorbed into the moment a little bit too much. Naruto actually almost slipped on the wet grass, but Sasuke quickly grasped his arm to steady him.

"Sensei?" Ryomaru was covering his eyes, blushing.

Eri was standing next to him, staring at her sensei and Sasuke. She walked up to them. "What do you think you're doing on a training field?" she asked frowning; her hands resting on her hips.

Naruto blinked a few times at the reaction of his student. "Eh…"

"Not 'eh'!" she told him. "Speak up!"

Naruto straightened up at Eri's almost commanding voice. "Hai." Sasuke's eyebrows almost rose up as he glanced over to Naruto.

"When you want to touch each other, do that somewhere else," Eri said sternly.

Sasuke stared at Eri, and so did Kazuko. She was lecturing them? Ryomaru peeked through his fingers to see what Eri was doing.

She pulled up her hand and waved her finger at the two adults. "We're not even 14 yet. You can't just go feel each other up all of a sudden? Look what you did to Ryomaru!" She pointed to the green haired boy, who quickly tried to shrink as much as he could, turning bright red. "What if Kenji had been here? What if someone else saw you?"

Naruto's eyes became wider the more words came out of Eri's mouth. Sasuke was really raising a single eyebrow by now.

"And can't you dress up properly? You're standing in company of a lady! I should tell Sakura-sensei, but I don't like to tattletale." She looked up to Naruto. "What are you waiting for? Go dress up!" She shook her head.

"Gak," Naruto made some noise between surprise and fear. He quickly stepped away from Sasuke in search of his clothes, finding his black pants with two orange stripes on the sides first.

Sasuke just kept staring at Eri, and she looked up to him, hands back in her sides, a frown still on her face. However, this was Sasuke, so by the time Naruto got back -his pants back on and his shirt in his hand- Eri wasn't able to look Sasuke in the eyes anymore, staring at some place to her right and her hands hanging beside her.

Naruto looked at the two for a moment. "You're um, early? What were you planning to do?"

Now that Naruto was back, Eri's frown was too. "We? What we're _you_ doing? It didn't look like-"

"Training," Sasuke said monotonously.

Eri carefully looked up to him, unable to say that exact word she had been about to say just now. Slowly she closed her mouth. Then she directed herself back to Naruto. "Well, it certainly didn't look like it!" She crossed her arms. "This better not happen again," she said with a final tone in her voice, turning around.

Ryomaru had dropped his hands a little, and was looking in awe how Eri verbally 'attacked' Naruto and Sasuke. He still didn't dare coming closer though.

Kazuko had no idea what to do. The scene in front of her had been so good, but there was nothing interesting about the situation any longer; the moment had gone. Should she carefully fall back and pretend to arrive to the scene just now? She decided to do that. Carefully she sneaked away from the bushes.

Naruto glanced at Sasuke and saw him look back at him. Naruto shrugged. Sasuke's reaction: shuffling closer to Naruto.

"Stop it!" Eri yelled, turning around and pointing to Sasuke. Miraculously Sasuke did stop (though it was more out of surprise of Eri's reaction than that he was scared of her threat). Eri walked over to them, and squeezed in-between the two. When she was in position, she started pushing the two apart, away from her. "Didn't you just hear me?"

Naruto started laughing at her action. "You think you can stop Sasuke?"

Eri stared at him, and then slowly turned her head to look over to Sasuke, who had his arms crossed, looking down at her with his narrow eyes. Eri almost took a step backward, but she wasn't afraid of Sasuke. "I will!" she said convincingly.

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked, grinning. Eri looked back to him and then to Sasuke again. In the meantime Naruto pulled his shirt on.

"He's not as tough as he looks," Eri said hesitantly.

Naruto laughed. "That's true." Sasuke immediately gave him one of his 'looks'; narrow eyes, lips pressed together. "Haha, Sasuke, I know you too well." Naruto tried to get closer to Sasuke again, but Eri pushed him back.

"Stay, sensei."

Naruto grasped Eri's arm and pulled her away, so he could step up to Sasuke. Eri, however, wasn't done yet. She immediately gripped his shirt, and placed one of her legs in front of his. Naruto tried to push her away, but Eri put her hands around him, holding him back with all her weight.

The struggle continued while Sasuke just stood watching the two. Ryomaru had deemed it safe enough to get closer, wondering what the two were doing.

Kazuko had been trying to sneak off, but couldn't help and stare at what was happening in front of her.

The pushing and pulling continued, with Naruto ever so slowly coming closer to Sasuke.

"What are you doing?" Kenji came walking onto the field, crossing his arms when he saw his sensei and Eri fight.

"Getting, sensei-" Eri panted, pushing her hand against Naruto's chest, the other one held by Naruto, and her leg tangled around his to stop him from moving, "away from-" Naruto smirked and let her arm go. Eri balanced on her one stably positioned foot. "-Sasuke-sama." Eri almost fell over, but was just in time to catch Naruto's tail and pull herself back up.

"Iaa." Naruto sounded surprised, and frowned when Eri pulled herself up, putting all her weight in it. "E-Eri-chan!" he tried to pry her fingers off his bushy tail, because she was still painfully pulling at it.

Kenji stood staring, unable to say anything. They were acting like kids. Not that he had never seen them act like this before. They were just like this.

He almost shook his head, and walked on; stopping beside Ryomaru. Discreetly he tried to get closer to Sasuke.

Finally he was in talking range, and looked up to the tall raven. "Don't worry, they always act like this," he said, trying to sound casual, looking over to Naruto and Eri.

"I had a feeling," Sasuke answered.

Kenji was so happy that Sasuke had answered him, and with four words nonetheless!

He tried to keep his cool however. "So…" he quickly glanced up and then back to the struggle. "You're going to stay training with us today?" He tried to look like he didn't care, not knowing he was failing at that.

Sasuke looked down to Kenji and considered him for a moment, seeing the excitement on his face. He still wasn't used to these kids praising him.

He sighed. "I was thinking of doing so." He didn't say why; he didn't want Naruto and Kazuko being together all day. He needed to make sure she knew Naruto was his.

"That's great!" Kenji burst out before stiffening up at his own action. "I mean… cool." Sasuke decided to ignore Kenji for the moment.

Ryomaru got closer to Kenji. "W-what are you doing?"

"Nothing."

"Why isn't K-Kohaku here yet?" Ryomaru asked instead.

"How should I know?" Kenji turned to Ryomaru. "You know I don't care what he does."

"B-but you live together. You at least see him in the mornings and evenings, do you?"

"Unfortunately." Kenji crossed his arms. "Do you know everything your sisters do?"

Ryomaru fiddled a bit. "No."

Kenji had made his point, and so had Naruto. Eri was lying on the ground. Naruto quickly jumped over her to get to Sasuke. His arm glided around Sasuke's waist. "Missed me?"

"Hn." Sasuke put his own arm around Naruto.

Ryomaru gulped and became red again. His hands went back to cover his eyes. Kenji just watched at what happened and didn't do anything. In fact, he didn't know how to respond. Ever since they had found out Naruto and Sasuke were together he had been having difficulty to come up with a way to act around the two when they were together.

Eri heaved her head from the ground to look up with a frown, but before she could say anything team 4 came walking onto the field.

They slowed down at the sight of Sasuke and Naruto.

"Where's…" Michi narrowed her eyes at the two adults. "Where's Kazuko-sensei?"

"Right over there." Sasuke pointed into the bushes.

Kazuko froze in place. How did he know? For how long had he known? Quickly she pulled herself together, and slowly stood up with a small green book in her hands. "Ah, ohayo." She waved.

Ryomaru eyed the book in her hand and pulled up his nose. Naruto and Sasuke noticed the book too.

"Is that-" Naruto narrowed his eyes at the familiar sight.

"Icha Icha Paradise," Michi sighed, shaking her head.

Kazuko smiled. "I'll just put it away then." She came walking closer to the rest.

"So…" Kohaku turned around, looking up to Sasuke.

"Who's he?" Naoko asked, eying the stranger suspiciously.

"Please tell me you're joking," Michi said monotonously. "You _do_ know, right?"

"Why would I ask then?"

"You don't know-" Michi stopped, unable to believe Naoko did not recognize the famous Uchiha.

"What?" Naoko asked innocently.

"You don't know Sasuke-sama?" Eri asked, straightening herself up, and eying the two embracing men.

Naoko shook her head. "I should?"

Michi hit her head. "You know~, Uchiha Sasuke?"

Naoko just blinked. "I guess I don't." She grinned.

"How can you say that with such a face-" Michi started telling Naoko how stupid she was.

"So, Sasuke-san," Kazuko said, trying to be polite. Sasuke turned his head to her. "Nice to meet you." She, however, didn't make an effort of shaking hands. Not that Sasuke would have anyway.

They stared at each other for quite some time. Naruto got nervous and tried to make Sasuke stop.

"Sasuke." He gently pushed Sasuke in the side. Sasuke didn't look away. "Sasuke," he said a little louder.

"What is he doing here?" Kohaku whispered in the direction of Eri as they watched the adults.

"Probably training with us." She glanced up to Sasuke, knowing why he was acting like this. He probably didn't like the woman that liked Naruto, especially not her being here in his presence.

"Oooh!" Naoko suddenly said, and the tension between Sasuke and Kazuko lifted. "Him."

Michi hit her head. "You are such a-"

"Anyway~," Naruto quickly said, stepping forward. "Sasuke's here to train with us." He smiled. "If you don't mind."

Immediately the students started telling they didn't mind at all, and Kazuko was forced to smile too. "That's so…" She was searching for a good word; not too rude…

"Great!"

"Thank you, Uchiha-san."

"Awesome!"

Sasuke looked around uncomfortably. Naruto nudged him, getting closer so he could whisper in his ear. "It was your own suggestion to come, smile a bit." Sasuke ignored Naruto's advice.

"Shut it," he calmly told the students instead, and immediately silence fell. "Go run around ten laps."

"Hai, Sasuke-sama!" And off was team 9. Team 4 quickly followed.

"And you keep telling me you don't want a team." Naruto shook his head.

"I don't."

"What do you want them to do?" Kazuko asked, looking suspiciously to Sasuke.

Sasuke pretended he didn't know she was talking to him. That, or he just plain ignored her. Naruto had the feeling it was the latter.

"Um, we we're planning to improve their quick thinking in rough situations, ne Kazuko-senpai?" Naruto smiled, trying to get the awkwardness out of the air. He would soon notice that it would be a waste… for the entire day.

-x-

Tsunade opened the door, and almost closed it again as a loud 'Happy birthday!' sounded. Tsunade cleaned her ear and sighed. "Naruto, it's not my birthday."

"Damn."

Naruto would visit Tsunade every once in a while like this; whishing her a happy birthday as soon as she opened the door. It was because she refused to tell him when the exact date was, and so he had begun the guessing.

"There are just too many days in a year," he told her before pushing himself through the small opening, inviting himself in.

Tsunade sighed again and closed the door. She followed him to her living room where a cup of tea and chocolate waited for her. She had planned a lazy evening, reading some romance novel or something. Naruto seemed not to notice the obvious signs, or chose to ignore them as he sat down on her couch.

"What is it gaki?"

"Nothing, why? You want me gone?" He smiled, showing his fox-like grin, and Tsunade began thinking he was doing this on purpose.

"You two aren't fighting again?"

"No." Naruto crossed his one arm over his chest. "We don't fight _that_ often."

Tsunade gave him a questionable look and crossed her own arms. "So there was no reason at all you were sticking in my office all day last week?"

Naruto fiddled with his black shirt for a moment. "Not really." He looked out of the window, trying to look innocent.

"It was about that bat, wasn't it?"

Naruto looked up to her. "How do you know?" Then he clapped his hand over his mouth. "Damn, you evil baa-chan."

Tsunade's eyes narrowed. "Where's that bat now?"

"Kou-chan is with Akira. He's glad to have a pet," Naruto smiled.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you want to put a chakra eating bat on a small child's shoulder?"

"Oh, he still likes eating my chakra very much." Naruto swiped something invisible of his orange pants and stood up. "He won't hurt Akira-kun."

Tsunade sighed. "Sit down." She pointed to the low table, and Naruto sat down on the floor. "But not for long," she warned. Naruto's answer was a grin.

"I knew you wouldn't mind," Naruto smiled, and looked curiously at what Tsunade was doing.

She pulled out a deck of cards. "Let's have some fun while you're here," she grinned.

"If you're certain."

Tsunade handed him some cards, and Naruto used his tail to get them in his hand.

"You came here with another reason?" Tsunade picked a card from the deck on the table.

"Not really." He already knew he couldn't get a card out of his hand with his tail, so he held the cards closer to Tsunade. "The first one." Tsunade looked up at him, and moved her hand to the first card. "The other first one."

"Then it's the last one." Tsunade got the card and laid it on the table.

They played for a while, Tsunade waiting for Naruto to finally tell her what bothered him.

"You know…" Naruto finally said, looking up from his cards.

"What?" Tsunade played a card before she lowered the other cards in her hand.

"Kazuko-senpai." Naruto looked at Tsunade. "You know-"

"The sensei of that team you're training with."

Naruto nodded. "She, er, she… well, Sasuke and-"

"They don't like each other? I noticed."

Naruto looked up. "You have?"

"When they got back from your last joint mission; I noticed. Wasn't hard to miss." Tsunade smirked. "So... you want to enlighten me as to why they don't like each other?"

"Well, it's quite funny-" Naruto stopped himself. "No. It's more-" he said thinking.

"Naruto."

Naruto grinned. "She kind of, sort of might… really… um, like me."

"Really?" Tsunade leaned forward and smiled. "Uchiha is jealous?"

"Mu." Naruto didn't need to answer that. Tsunade started laughing. "Things were really awkward today."

Tsunade tilted her head. "Why?"

"Well, Sasuke insisted on coming with me to training today. Team 4 was there too."

Tsunade laughed again. "Oh, you should have told me, I would have come by to watch, haha!"

"Mo, Tsunade~," Naruto whined.

After a while Tsunade was able to stop laughing. "Sorry."

Naruto puffed his cheeks. "Mu."

"It's your turn."

Naruto laid down his cards to pick a new card from the deck. "Kazuko of course doesn't know Sasuke is Taka."

Tsunade looked up. She had always thought it weird for Naruto to call Kazuko, Kazuko-senpai. She decided not to ask why he didn't do it right now.

"Of course." She looked at her cards. She was afraid she would lose this round; one of many, probably.

Naruto clumsily laid down one of his last two cards, and laid his last card upside down on the table. "I told her I'm with Sasuke, and I actually thought she was backing off, but…" Naruto sighed and grasped his tail. "I think Sasuke being there didn't exactly make things better."

"Sasuke is probably too stubborn to see that he's only making things worse." Tsunade doubted what action to take. Naruto was down to one card; how should she get back to him? Would he have a red card or a black one? Her hand hovered above two cards in her own hand.

"Well, at least my team doesn't mind him being around, neither did team 4, I guess." Naruto sat there with his tail in his hand. Absentmindedly he had started brushing its white tip over the table, as if he was dusting.

Tsunade decided to go for red. She laid down the card on the table and looked up to Naruto. "Kids these days."

"Sasuke was very…" Naruto thought for a moment. "Very…"

Tsunade was now distracted by his tail as he moved it over the table.

"Well… he never touches me that much." Naruto turned a bit red. "Not when others are around." He looked away.

Tsunade looked at him and grinned. "I didn't think you would mind that."

Naruto looked back to Tsunade. She mentioned it was his turn. Naruto looked down to the card Tsunade had played and reached for the deck.

Tsunade's eyes grew a little bit. She had made the right choice. She grinned.

"Well, not really, no." Naruto stopped moving his hand. Tsunade froze… _No_… "It's just, I didn't think Sasuke would go this far to show Kazuko…" Naruto grinned and scratched his chin. "Hehe, you know."

"Yes, yes." Tsunade looked back to the upside down card on the table. "I think he actually likes showing you're his." She motioned again that Naruto had to make his move.

"I'm his?" Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Why not-" Tsunade moved her hand more violently, and Naruto turned back to the game. He reached for his own card, took a look at it, and threw it on top of Tsunade's last played card. Tsunade sighed and threw her leftover cards on the table.

"Anyway," Tsunade collected all the cards and made a stack again. "You both like acting like this."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "We both do?"

"Yes, you can't deny it. You like the attention, Sasuke likes it too, plus he's able to show he was the one that won you over."

Naruto pouted. "What makes you think he won me over?"

"He didn't then?"

Naruto grumbled. "He did," he muttered, and turned away.

Tsunade smirked. "You see." At least she could still win from Naruto at one game, every time.

* * *

><p>Naruto giggled again as he could still hear the sound coming from downstairs. He couldn't help it, it was just so funny. He started laughing, and was barely able to keep himself up, leaning on the small cabinet in the small hall.<p>

"It's not," a hiccup sounded, "funny!" came an angry voice.

"Hahaha!" Naruto fell to his knees as more hiccups sounded, coming from Sasuke.

"Naru-_hick_-to!"

"I-I'm so- hahahahaa," Naruto wiped some tears away, and fell on his back on the ground. "-sorry."

Sasuke grumbled, interrupted by two hiccups. He had been having the hiccups for over _two hours_ now! This was no longer funny. How Naruto could still laugh was beyond him. He had started laughing after the fourth or fifth hiccup and ever since. Not even sending the blond upstairs helped him cool down. Yes, Sasuke was getting frustrated about this, and not even Naruto could stop him from getting grumpy about it, especially not like this.

"Hahahahaaa."

Sasuke's eye twitched. Akira was almost frighteningly staring at him from behind the chair, peering over the armrest. He hadn't dared to say anything about it -not even comforting or uplifting- after Sasuke's outburst to Naruto, which had ended in sending Naruto upstairs. Even Kou had ceased his glaring at Sasuke, and had moved to Akira's back.

"He's not hel-_hick_-ping at all."

"Kaa-chan said," Akira said softly, and Sasuke looked down interestingly, "that scaring helps."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"Will it help... if I run away again?" Sasuke grumbled again, and Akira ducked behind the chair. "I won't, I won't!" he said almost in a panic.

"Ahahahahaa."

Sasuke turned away from his chibi son and walked over to the sliding doors, slid them open, went outside, jumped off the porch, and went to the back of the garden.

Carefully Akira came back from behind the chair and looked around, seeing if it was safe to walk around again. He could still hear Naruto laughing upstairs, rolling over the floor.

"Is tou-chan alright?" he asked while walking to the stairs, looking up.

Naruto stuck his head around the corner and looked down, trying not to laugh anymore (which wasn't really working). "He's- he's alright."

"Should we scare him?"

Naruto thought this over for a moment, trying to think up a plan, but he could still hear Sasuke hiccupping, even when he was in the back of the garden. Naruto snorted with laughter.

Akira tilted his head, not sure what to do about the situation. Naruto was bending over, his tail curled between his legs and his arm resting on his knee. He was really having a good time with this, though Akira didn't see what was so funny.

Suddenly the front door opened, making Akira turn around. Iruka looked around the door to find Naruto and Akira.

"Hello. I thought I heard Naruto laugh."

Naruto tried to say something, but couldn't and turned away, holding himself up on the wall.

"Iruka-san." Akira stepped closer to the chuunin. "Tou-chan is having the hiccups, and Naruto thinks it's funny."

"Does he?" Iruka looked up, to see Naruto having trouble to walk down the stairs to the kitchen. He shook his head. "Where's your otou-san now?"

Akira pointed to the back of the house. "In the garden."

"Ah."

"I don't understand what is so funny, Akira told Iruka sadly."

"Don't worry Akira-kun, I don't know either. That's just something we will never understand about Naruto."

"Hm."

* * *

><p>"Hmm," Naruto hummed. He was leaning against Sasuke as they sat across the couch. Sasuke's in bandage covered arm was resting on Naruto's stomach. The cast had been removed recently.<p>

Naruto had been humming for quite a while now, and Sasuke was just listening, sitting very still, his chin resting on Naruto's shoulder. His left hand rested on Naruto's chest, feeling his steady heartbeat.

Akira had been playing all over the house. Right now his toys were taking spectacular dives off the staircase. Every now and then a thud could be heard as one of his toys fell to the ground.

"You know," Naruto suddenly said. Sasuke turned his eyes to Naruto. "I feel like eating ramen." Naruto grinned. Sasuke sighed, but then a smile appeared.

Naruto didn't notice and stood up. He thought it strange that Sasuke followed him, but ignored it. When he was in the kitchen, opening all cupboards in his quest for ramen, he began to realize why Sasuke was leaning against the doorpost, with a smirk on his face.

Finally Naruto gave up. "Where did you put it?" He had a feeling he knew where it was, and more importantly, why.

Sasuke's grin became wider. "In there." He pointed to the highest cupboard. Naruto stared at him with a slight frown.

"You do that on purpose." Naruto pursed his lips, when he saw the way Sasuke's eyes sparkled evilly. He was enjoying this.

"You think so?"

Naruto turned around and went to the cupboard Sasuke had pointed at. Sasuke hadn't put the ramen there because he didn't really like the smell in the house. No, he loved his blond too much to do that. The reason why it was there was...

Naruto reached up to get his ramen and his shirt went up, exposing his stomach. Sasuke in the meantime had crept up behind Naruto and placed both hands around Naruto's waist.

Naruto's finger just touched the ramen cup, when he felt the touch of the cool hands on his skin, and he pulled his arm back again.

"Hihi, that tickles."

Sasuke slowly moved his hands up Naruto's sides, and Naruto started giggling. "Sa- hihi- Sasuke, stop."

"You don't want me to help you get it?"

"I know y-you put it up -hihihi- up there on p-purpose."

"It's the only place left to put it." Sasuke whispered into Naruto's normal ear. In the meantime his hands had reached Naruto's armpits and went back down. "Go on, try to get it."

"Hnn," Naruto whined but stretched out nonetheless, only to shrink back when Sasuke's fingers tickled his sides. "Mo, stop tickling then."

"I'm not tickling. This is tickl-"

"No, I get it, I get it." Naruto pushed one of Sasuke's hands away from his side and stretched out again, standing on his toes, reaching for the ramen he craved.

Sasuke stretched his own arm towards the ramen from behind Naruto, easily reaching it. He didn't need to press himself against Naruto the way he did, and his other arm certainly didn't need to lower down into Naruto's pants. Naruto pulled his arm back as he was surprised at this last action from Sasuke, and accidentally hit his elbow into Sasuke's face.

"Ah."

"Oops. Sorry, are you okay?" Naruto turned around, and started grinning when Sasuke held his hand over his forehead, glaring at Naruto. Naruto actually saw some small tears forming in the corner of his eyes.

"Ahw, I'm so sorry," Naruto laughed and hugged Sasuke. "It's your own fault, you know."

Sasuke grumbled.

"Ah, Sasuke. You will still get my ramen though, won't you?" Naruto pouted and let his lower lip quiver.

"Why should I?"

Naruto laid his one hand on Sasuke's shoulder and pulled him down. At the same time he went to stand on his toes to kiss Sasuke's forehead. "You will?" he asked again.

Sasuke grumbled softly. He pressed Naruto against the kitchen counter on purpose before he reached for the ramen.

"Ulgh." Naruto was almost squashed.

"Here." Sasuke didn't move away from Naruto after he had lowered his arm with the cup in his hand. Instead he only moved forward.

"How am I supposed to take my ramen, when you keep it away from me?" Sasuke was holding the ramen behind Naruto, placing it on the counter.

"I never said I would give it to you. I said I would get it."

Naruto pouted. "You're so mean."

"I can be a lot meaner." Sasuke's smirk was back.

"You can't do anything right now, Akira-kun is in the next room."

As on cue a thud sounded from the fall that one of Akira's wooden animal toys made.

"I'm not doing anything that he hasn't seen before."

"You just want to kiss?" Naruto asked disbelievingly.

"And touch."

"And-" Naruto closed his mouth, staring at Sasuke, though it was hard as he was only a couple of centimetres away from his face. Sasuke smirked. "You will ruin the boy at the tender age of 5."

"Says who? He doesn't even understand it yet."

"What would you think if you had found your parents like that in the kitchen as a 5-year-old?"

"No idea, never have."

"Imagine."

Sasuke was silent for a moment. "I really can't." He smiled. His hand moved over Naruto's stomach, lowering to his pants.

Naruto wiggled. "I'll help you. You come into the kitchen and see your mother hanging backwards over the kitchen counter while your da- Why are you smiling?"

Sasuke thought it funny how Naruto had set up the roles in comparison to their own situation. Sasuke shrugged.

"You're weird."

"Really?" Sasuke stuck out his tongue, trying to reach for Naruto's nose. Naruto couldn't back off anymore, his head hitting the cupboard. In the meantime Sasuke's hand was trying to get access into Naruto's orange pants.

"You can't, Akira-kun-" Sasuke licked Naruto's nose. "I just wanted ramen, I'm hungry~," Naruto tried another approach. He just couldn't push Sasuke away, because in his heart, he really didn't mind what his raven was doing to him.

"Really? Me too."

"You are?" Naruto asked astonished. "Then why-" Sasuke kissed Naruto, who had not caught the real meaning behind Sasuke's words until now.

Naruto felt Sasuke's tongue against his lips, as he pressed them firmly against each other, stubbornly. He really was hungry.

As Sasuke and Naruto were 'fighting' and struggling in the kitchen, Akira was sitting upstairs on the landing of the stair, looking down to his wooden lion on the floor downstairs. "Kou-chan, please get it?" Kou moved his little shiny black eyes to Akira's teal ones and blinked.

"If you do, you can have a bit of my chakra. I won't tell anyone, especially not tou-chan." Kou eyed him for a bit longer. Naruto's chakra was the best he'd ever had, but that didn't mean he didn't like getting some other chakra if he got the chance.

He made a soft sound and let go off Akira, making some sort of free fall down the staircase. He spread his wings and dived down to get the small toy. In a swift motion he caught it, and flapped his wings a bit harder at the extra weight he now had to carry. He was carrying something as big as he was after all. It took him a bit longer than he would have liked, but finally the bat reached Akira. He let the toy fall in his hands. Quickly he dropped himself on Akira's shoulder, panting slightly.

It seemed almost like he was smacking his lips, and Akira smiled enthusiastically. "Go on, just don't make them notice."

The bat put his small fingers more tightly into Akira's shirt before sucking some of his chakra. It tasted quite all right for a small boy. The deep purple chakra had just the tiniest hint off evil in it, similar to that of the lavender coloured chakra of the mean Sasuke. The Uchiha didn't know, but during a night Kou had tasted some of his chakra, planning on draining him so much he would wake up exhausted (which he had really done).

Naruto's chakra was the best he had ever had, because of the evil inside. It was so strong that it was thrilling every time he fed on it. The bat hadn't expected for Sasuke's chakra to taste almost as good too. It didn't quite reach up to Naruto's (no one's he'd ever tasted had), but it had the potential all right.

Akira's had just a teeny tiny bit of that same feeling. For a small boy that was more than he could ever expect, but unlike Sasuke, Akira didn't really had the potential to make it stronger, sadly.

Kou stopped eating and looked up into the teal eyes of the smiling boy. A finger came up to scratch his chin. Kou closed his eyes.

"Good boy."

At first Kou hadn't really liked Akira, with his almost same look as Sasuke. He had glared at the boy as he had done to Sasuke, but soon he had come to notice that the small boy really liked animals, and was really nice to him. Akira wanted to pet him so often that he himself had to crawl away at times, having had enough.

This, however, didn't mean that he didn't mind sleeping with Akira instead of Naruto when they had said so almost three weeks ago. He blamed Sasuke for it all, and made sure he knew with every glare he directed to the Uchiha from Akira's or Naruto's shoulder.

And now he actually became to like Akira. In bed he was much less restless and energetic than Naruto, making it much easier to stick on all night. So he had come to terms with it, plus Naruto's chakra was all the more tastier when he didn't have access to it all day.

Akira liked to have talks with him (one sided ones), which made Kou feel more important and -he had trouble admitting it- less lonely. The boy was childish, but still. He really was concerned about him, and liked for him to have a good time. He was nice. Yes, nice was a good word, Kou could handle saying that about the boy.

"I didn't feel anything," Akira said. Kou wasn't surprised; children didn't have a good idea of what chakra was, not enough to feel it.

As Akira was busy with Kou, he didn't notice at all the sounds that were coming from the kitchen.

"Sasuke, stop it," Naruto whispered urgently for the sixth time -but unable to keep the soft giggle from his voice-, and again Sasuke ignored it as he pushed Naruto further onto the kitchen table. Naruto knocked over the fruit bowl, making the apples roll onto the ground.

The button at the back of his pants had already been loosened, and he desperately tried to keep his pants up while Sasuke tried to pull them down.

"What if someone comes in and sees us?" Naruto tried again, smiling.

"You will hear it before they are even in the street," Sasuke grinned, seeing Naruto was just playing along.

"I'm not really focussing on what is happening around us, right now."

"Then they will think twice before entering our house like that ever again. It's rude to just enter someone else's house."

"It's called trust, not rudeness," Naruto interjected.

Sasuke's right hand kept pulling at Naruto's pants while the other moved over the inside of his thighs, slowly crawling up.

"S-Sasuke," Naruto moaned softly. Sasuke really liked teasing Naruto, but Naruto wasn't sure that it was still teasing, or that he was having a sincere struggle to get what he wanted. Naruto was starting to think it was the latter. "You don't need to pull-" he stopped and Sasuke looked up, seeing Naruto move his ears around.

"Who is it?" he grumbled, not happy with the interruption.

Naruto pushed him aside and ran away. "No one!" he laughed.

Sasuke frowned, grinding his teeth. "You forgot your ramen!"

Sasuke glanced over his shoulder to the counter; only to find it empty.

"Have not!" came the far away answer with an obvious sounding grin.

He would get Naruto, no matter how.

-oXo-


	30. Chapter 30: Mizaru, Kikazaru and Iwazaru

I feel the need to hug someone... :3 Thank you all wonderful readers and reviewers!

-oXo-

**Chapter 30: Mizaru, Kikazaru and Iwazaru**

_18__th__ of November_

It was raining softly, nothing you should stop for on a mission. Besides it was actually quite nice since they had been walking through the heat of Wind country for some days. Team Kakashi minus Kakashi had been sent to meet with the Treasure Hunter near the border with the Wind country. As the Hokage and the Hunter both didn't trust to talk on land of the other, they had decided to meet there.

They were almost at the meeting place, but were early, so they had stopped to take a break and wait before going to the actual meeting place further away. They all sat down on the grass. Naruto put his hand in his pouch.

"You know what I recently discovered?" he asked.

Sakura looked up to him, and Sasuke glanced sideways at him.

Naruto took out something from his bag. "That it's really nice to-"

Sakura looked at the object in his hand. "You discovered you like eggs?" She pulled up an eyebrow.

"Of course not, I already knew that. No, this..." Naruto brought the egg to his mouth, and for a second Sakura was afraid he would swallow it whole, but Naruto put his long canine in it to make a hole.

Sakura watched with fascination, which was now slowly turning into something less appealing. "To drink it!" Naruto told her happily before he began sipping from the egg.

"Eew, Naruto!"

Naruto licked the egg, and Sasuke raised an eyebrow because he hadn't known this either.

"What? It's really good. And somehow, very strangely, exciting or something." Naruto grinned.

"That's something foxes like to do," Sasuke told him. "To steal eggs and eat them."

"Really?" Naruto shrugged. "Well, it's nice." He sipped again from the small hole.

"Oh, Naruto, how can that taste good?" Sakura looked at him with a look close to disgust.

"I can't help it."

"Hopefully it will stop when your arm is back, or else… just don't do that in front of me anymore." She gave him a warning look.

"Why? I sometimes see you eat your way through box after box of chocolate; I don't say anything about that either, do I?" Naruto rolled his eyes. "It's not really a pleasant sight."

"But that at least is normal."

"Says you!"

"Say all women all over the world." Sakura gave Sasuke a look, but before she could say anything else, Naruto interrupted her.

"That's no argument."

"Just because you don't understand women, doesn't mean that it's not true."

"Just because you don't understand me, doesn't make it weird!" Naruto said as if that was the last of it, and that he was right.

"Naruto..." Sakura shook her head. "I can't really deny that."

"Ha!"

"She's just saying that it might not be as weird, because you have plenty more strange habits," Sasuke told Naruto.

"So?" Naruto turned from Sasuke to Sakura.

"Never mind." Sakura shook her head. Naruto tilted his head, apparently still not understanding what was wrong.

Suddenly Sakura began smiling.

"What?"

"I really missed missions like this, just the three of us."

"Yeah, it's nice," Naruto agreed. "I'm actually still amazed that Tsunade let me go on the mission."

"I don't think she has ever seen you when your arm is growing," Sasuke reasoned.

"Hm," Sakura agreed.

Naruto looked down to his half an arm that was bandaged up. "I'm not looking forward to it growing further, now that the elbow is coming... I don't think I'll like that."

"Joints are harder to form, I think."

"Yes, the first time, that really hurt."

"Can you move it a little better already?" Sakura asked as she looked down to his bandaged arm that was sticking from under the sleeve of his orange t-shirt.

"A little, look." Naruto moved the arm away from his body, but was not able to reach a horizontal position just yet. His new arm and muscles were still weak as they had never been used before, and Naruto tried to practice moving it every day; instructions of Sakura.

"Oh, that's quite good progress."

"Really?"

"Yes, it is. It's not incredibly fast, but you have never, ever used this arm before, so to speak. I'm impressed."

Naruto nodded. "It's so weird. When I lost it I had the feeling it was still there, but now that it is growing back, it actually feels like I'm losing it." He scratched his head. "If that makes any sense at all."

"Does growing back an arm make any sense?" Sasuke asked.

"Not really, does it?" Naruto grinned. He tried to lick the last slimy substance out of the shell before he licked his lips.

Sakura was still watching him with narrowed eyes. "Yuck." Naruto threw the empty shell away. "I've been meaning to ask, what happened to Kou-chan? Did Sasuke-kun kill him already?"

"Haha, I think he would have if Kou-chan was still hanging onto me every day."

"He's gone again?" Sakura asked sadly. Sasuke huffed, crossing his arms.

"No, he's with Akira-kun. Kou-chan actually is becoming closer to him every day."

"So, he's not on your shirt any longer?"

"Of course he is, my chakra is still better than Akira's, and I forbade him to suck out too much chakra from Akira-kun. I don't want Akira-kun to collapse suddenly because of lack of chakra. Luckily Kou-chan doesn't really need that much chakra anyway."

"You think it's not that much," Sasuke said. "I think if he didn't feed from you, he might drain Akira more than you think." Naruto grinned and shrugged, turning to Sasuke.

"I think he doesn't need that much at all. He would get fat if he would hang around me for too long, I'm sure. I bet he's been eating way too much for such a little guy." Naruto turned back to Sakura. "So every evening Kou-chan comes to me to eat, and then, when we go to bed, I give him back to Akira-kun."

Sakura turned to Sasuke. "I can't believe you're so jealous of a bat that you actually don't mind him hanging around Akira-kun."

Sasuke didn't answer, didn't even make the slightest movement at all. His stare just became somewhat darker. (It was worrying him too.)

"Well, Akira-kun is finally happy that he can have a real pet."

"A real pet?"

"Yeah," Naruto muttered, "he still thinks I'm actually a fox. Even though I tell him I'm not."

Sakura giggled.

"But Akira-kun is happy, and Sasuke has come to a compromise." Naruto bowed to Sakura and whispered, "I think deep down he can't deny he doesn't really mind seeing his son this happy."

Sakura smiled. "I think you're right. He's actually more emotional than he lets on."

"I'm not." Sasuke crossed his arms carefully. His arm wasn't in a cast anymore, but it was still bandaged and sensitive.

"Sure," Sakura said. Sasuke huffed.

"Last week he made Akira-kun cry, when he got mad at Kou-chan. He almost threw Kou-chan out of the window," Naruto told Sakura. She looked at him with wide eyes for a moment.

"No! He wanted to throw Kou-chan away?" she said with almost fake disbelief, though there was something that said she really was surprised.

"Yeah, but Akira-kun stopped him in time by clinging to Sasuke's leg and crying." Sasuke was giving him a cold and angry stare. "I think Sasuke panicked when Akira-kun began crying; he still can't handle Akira-kun crying." Naruto bent to Sasuke and stroked his cheek. "Can't you?"

Sasuke swatted the hand away, and looked the other way. "Don't know what you're talking about."

Naruto and Sakura grinned, thinking the same: he _really_ couldn't handle a crying Akira.

"I wonder, because Akira-kun never tells me," Sakura said as she laid her hand on her chin, thinking. "Do you ever get mad at him at all? You are always so gruff around us -though these days you're actually quite _pettable_."

Naruto laughed, and Sasuke glared at Sakura. "Pettable?"

"Well, of course we can't pet you, but when you compare the way you act around us now with when we were 12..." Sakura looked to Sasuke to watch his response.

"Hn."

"Oh, come on Sasuke-kun, I'm teasing you." Sakura pushed him against his shoulder. "You're just more sociable then you used to be."

"That's because you two have become more serious, so I can actually have a conversation with you."

"Naruto was quite stupid, wasn't he?"

"Hé? What about you, hanging around 'Sasuke-kun' all day?"

"Love makes blind, we all know that." Sakura smiled and crossed her arms, tilting her head a little.

"Ha! Sure." Naruto shook his head.

It was silent for a moment, and then they all laughed as they remembered how they used to be.

"Who would have thought back then that life would turn out like this," Sakura said eventually. "Sasuke-kun running away, killing Orochimaru and coming back; suddenly having a child. Naruto fusing with Kyuubi, and you two living together. And me..."

"Living together with Sai, that's certainly not something I could have imagined back then."

"No," Sakura admitted.

"Or Kakashi-sensei and Anko," Naruto grinned.

"How they ever got together?"

"Probably the same way we did," Naruto laughed.

"Are we some strange people or not?" Sakura laughed.

"Says you!"

"Oh, come on Naruto."

Sasuke silently listened to his teammates squabble with a small smile on his face. Sakura was right; things were so different from when they were 12, but also still so much the same as they sat there like this.

-x-

Naruto stood in the small open space in between the high corn. Sasuke and Sakura were standing at the edge of the open space.

"He's late," Naruto whined.

"I do hope he's still planning on coming," Sakura said, just barely keeping the anger out of her voice. She wanted to punch that Hunter in the face.

Suddenly movement could be heard, and a man came from between the high corn.

"Domo," he said, wringing his hands.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked, not recognizing the man at all.

"My name is Jojo, I'm sent here by the great Treasure Hunter."

"We had agreed to meet personally," Sasuke said with a deep voice.

"Yes, but master couldn't come after all. He is glad to meet with you again in a month."

"You really think we are that patient?" Sakura asked, clenching her fists.

"You will be most kindly if you-"

"Is that all you came here for?" Sakura asked angrily.

"Sakura-chan, calm down," Naruto told her and stepped closer to the sneaky man with his beady eyes. "We would like to meet one more time, but if he will not keep his word then, I can't promise that no measures will be taken." He purposely didn't say what kind of measures.

"You are too kind," the man said, bowing and wringing his hands. "The great Hunter told me to give you this as a token of our gratitude for your understanding." He held up a scroll.

Naruto took it and opened it to read. Sasuke and Sakura stepped up to him. It was an apology from the Hunter, signed and all. Naruto sneezed at the scent of the heavy perfume on the letter.

"Fine, we will send a message for a new location," Naruto said as he handed the scroll to Sasuke.

Sakura had calmed down somewhat, and was impressed by Naruto's negotiation skills. Perhaps Tsunade was secretly training him or something; she wondered.

"Thank you so much!" The man bowed again and walked away.

When he was far enough away, Naruto turned around to Sasuke and Sakura. "Man, what a creepy guy."

Sakura nodded. "You believe him?"

"Not really, but one last chance is only fair."

"Not really," Sasuke said softly.

"I believe so," Naruto argued. Sasuke shrugged.

"You are really to-" but whatever Naruto was couldn't be heard as a flash of light went off somewhere from the ground.

Thinking they might be attacked the three of them jumped away quickly. Naruto had jumped out of the field behind a rock and felt Sasuke beside him. Sakura had jumped into a tree close by.

"What was that?" Naruto stood up as he thought things were safe again. He couldn't hear anything from the field.

He turned his ears around on his head. He actually couldn't hear anything at all. He looked over to Sasuke, and asked him if he could hear anything, but he couldn't even hear his own voice. Couldn't he speak either? Or just couldn't hear it?

When he looked over to Sasuke, he saw his mouth moving, talking to him while his eyes stared at a point somewhere beside him.

Naruto grabbed his shoulder. "You can't see?" he asked rather loudly, and hunched down again.

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked as he moved his hands forward to Naruto. With his hands he felt Naruto's face and chest. "You don't have to talk so loud."

Sakura jumped out of the tree, landing behind Naruto and Sasuke, and looked up to them. 'What's going on?' was what she wanted to ask, but nothing left her mouth, not even a squeak. No sound at all.

Sasuke shook his head. "No, I can't see; all is black. What happened?"

"What?" Naruto asked, looking to Sakura. "I can't hear you."

"That I can't see. What's going on?" Sasuke said annoyingly.

Suddenly they all realized what was going on.

"Naruto can't hear, Sakura can't talk and I can't see. Am I right?" Sasuke suddenly asked.

Sakura nodded, and then looked to Naruto.

"Eh... yes?" he asked as he saw Sakura nodding to him as if he should agree with her.

Sakura fumbled in her pouch, pulled out a scroll and started writhing.

"What are you writing, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked loudly. Sasuke now understood what he had been hearing; he'd only heard Sakura moving.

Sakura held up the paper for Naruto to read.

"_Naruto can't hear, Sasuke can't see and Sakura can't talk_," he read out loud. "Is that because of the jutsu, or whatever that light was?" He looked up to her, and she motioned for him to lower his voice.

"Probably, but I'm not sure that it was a jutsu," Sasuke said, and Sakura nodded.

"What now?" Naruto asked softly. He hadn't noticed Sasuke talking.

"Try to find that man and reverse it, otherwise we'll have to head back to Konoha," Sasuke said, and Sakura nodded. Naruto looked confused from the one to the other. "Damn, why do I have to lose my vision?" Sasuke suddenly asked, laying his hand over his eyes.

Sakura started scribbling, translating for Naruto. 'We should find that man to reverse this and head back.' And the next sentence was 'We probably lost what we needed most.'

Sakura sighed and scribbled again. 'Read it out loud, otherwise Sasuke will not know.'

"Oh, sure. I'm sorry."

"About what?" Sasuke asked.

"Keep it up again, I forgot what you wrote," Naruto grinned and Sakura did so. "_We should_ _find_ _that man to reverse this and head back. We probably lost what we needed most._" Naruto thought this over. "Hmm, that could be, I have the best hearing out the three of us, Sasuke the best vision and you... er..."

Sakura pursed her lips to him.

"She's the one that understands best what is going on. Now you can't explain or bring over your analysis." Sakura smiled. Naruto was still confused, but before he could ask anything, Sakura was already writing again. Naruto read it out loud.

"Aha, yes." He grinned after he finished reading, His hand went up to his neck. Sakura ignored him as she held something up again. "_It's probably temporary. We need to stick together at all times; otherwise we will not be able to communicate. To be simple there is only a one way circle to communicate_."

Sakura was drawing some diagrams and writing again, Naruto waited. One circle-diagram was bigger than the other diagrams (that Naruto didn't bother to read). This was their communication circle. "_Sasuke talks to Sakura, Sakura writes down and shows Naruto. Naruto reads aloud what she has to say, to tell Sasuke_."

There were three more circles, one for seeing, talking and hearing. She had written their names around each circle with arrows to the other's names. Naruto looked at it, trying to understand when Sakura didn't lower the paper until he had finished explaining to Sasuke too.

Naruto took his time before he started telling what he saw. "So Sasuke can't see anything, but we can see everything. The same with hearing, I can't hear anything but you two can. But talking is the most interesting. Sakura can't talk to Sasuke, but she can write to me. This way she can 'speak' to me. Sasuke can't talk to me because I can't hear. He can only hear me."

Naruto smirked. "That means Sasuke is in the worst position, and you are in the best." Sakura nodded.

"Hn." Sasuke sighed. "You two better take a look at it." He pointing to the cornfield.

Sakura nodded, and grabbed his and Naruto's arm to take them with her. She didn't hear anything suspicions, and thought things were safe now. As they walked up to the open space in the corn, Naruto understood what they were doing. Together with Sakura he scuffed around, looking for anything that could indicate what had happened.

"What's that?" Naruto suddenly asked, pointing to the ground. Sakura quickly walked up to him, and pushed him aside before he would pick up the thing he saw. She hunched down, and looked at the small object Naruto had found.

Sasuke stumbled over to them, and bumped into Naruto. "What is it?"

Sakura looked at the object for a bit longer before she started scribbling. She hadn't touched the object.

"_It looks like a special kind of stone that can store a jutsu for a moment. They are very rare. If you have stored a jutsu into the stone and it goes off, it will become empty, and can't be used again._" Naruto stared at the stone in Sakura's hand when she picked it up. "That small brown stone made that big flash?" he asked. Sakura nodded.

"I've heard of a clan that can take out one of your senses, but normally only one sense at a time from one person," Sasuke said.

Sakura began scribbling again, explaining what Sasuke had said, and added some other things.

"_Sasuke knows of a clan that can take out one sense of a person at a time._ _The stone could probably store his jutsu three times, before it was 'closed' and was brought here to 'open'._" Naruto didn't quite understand how that all worked, but held no interest in it either. Sakura pocketed the stone.

"Is there a reverse jutsu or any-?" he stopped talking and sniffed the air.

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked, still holding his arm. "What are you doing? Why are you-"

"I smell some people." Naruto interrupted Sasuke, no idea that Sasuke was talking because he was looking the other way.

"We better move out of here, this is obviously a trap," Sasuke said, and he pulled at Naruto's arms. Even though Naruto had no idea what Sasuke had said, he understood he wanted to get away.

They jumped away, and ran into the forest until Sakura made them stop. She began writing something.

"_Didn't they attack us because of what you did?_" Naruto read out. Sasuke looked to Naruto as well as Sakura, waiting for him to explain.

Naruto grinned suddenly. "Probably."

Sakura had written something again. _"You think they stopped because they were afraid when you let some of your chakra seep out?"_

"I know it's not so bad for you two anymore, because you kind of have become accustomed to my chakra. I don't think those guys were thinking the same though. It is quite vile, you know." Naruto grinned foxily. His tail was sweeping back and forth.

Sakura and Sasuke shook their heads.

"I just thought it might slow them down a bit. I had a feeling it could be a trap," Naruto said.

Sakura raised her eyebrows.

"Don't look like that Sakura-chan. I'm not completely stupid."

"That's true," Sasuke agreed. "Let's go back home, I think this jutsu will wear off after a couple of days."

'Days!' Sakura wanted to shout.

"Or weeks."

'WEEKS?' Naruto eyed Sakura as she waved her arms, and was obviously trying to yell something to Sasuke.

"What did he say?" Sakura was still moving too much and was unable to calm down. So Naruto took the scroll and brush from the ground, because Sakura had dropped it, and handed it to Sasuke. "Please write down what you said. Sakura-chan is too freaked out."

Sasuke felt the paper, what size it was, took the brush in his hand and started to write. After a moment Sakura had calmed down, and looked how Sasuke wrote quite neatly for someone who couldn't see. It took him some time, but he finished it and gave Naruto the paper.

It read, 'The jutsu will probably wear off in a few days. Let's head back to Konoha, we need to discuss things with Tsunade-sama.'

"Okay." Naruto handed Sakura her paper back.

Sasuke reached for Naruto's hand, and they all walked away.

-x-

Before they reached Konoha again they sat down, resting, and Naruto took out another egg. Sakura quickly snatched it away from him, throwing the egg away.

"Sakura-chan! I wanted to eat that!"

Sakura shook her head and folded her arms. She had said 'not in front of me', and she meant it.

Naruto frowned and pursed his lips.

"I think I'm beginning to hear more," Sasuke said, indicating he was adjusting to his temporary blindness.

Sakura nodded, and wrote something down.

"_You have trained without sight before_." Naruto read, and then looked over to Sasuke. "Plus you always think you need your eyes so much, but I think you can do a lot without them."

Naruto looked down to the paper again, as Sakura was pointing to it. "_I never thought I needed my voice this much._"

"Now you finally know what we feel when you're around, you use it too much." Sasuke smirked, and Sakura stomped him in his shoulder.

"Eh?" Naruto looked from the one to the other. "What did he say?"

Sakura didn't respond. Naruto huffed.

"I hate being ignored." He crossed his arms. He looked up carefully to Sakura again, who was still softly stomping Sasuke every now and then, and he deemed it safe to get out his last egg.

Quickly he brought it to his mouth to make the holes in the egg, but before he could even lick his teeth, the egg had been snatched away again. "No~" Naruto followed the egg with his eyes till it disappeared into a small river. Then he looked back angrily to Sakura, who looked satisfied. "Why did you do that?"

She gave him an I-told-you-so look.

"That was my last one," he muttered, looking back to the river sadly; his ears flat on his head.

-x-

Sasuke was still holding Naruto's hand when they entered Tsunade's office, which earned them some raised eyebrows from Tsunade and Shizune.

"So I presume things went well?" she asked, not yet able to look away from the joining hands.

"Not really," Sasuke answered. Tsunade looked up surprised. She hadn't expected him to answer. He never really was the talker out of the three.

"Tsunade, you don't have to look so confused." Naruto held up Sasuke's and his joined hands. "There's a reason for this." He grinned at her. His tail was swaying happily behind him, and a big smile was on his face when he held up their hands.

"Please tell me." Tsunade narrowed her eyes to Naruto.

Naruto looked to Sakura for translation, while Sasuke decided to already start explaining things.

"We were tricked. The Treasure Hunter didn't come." Sasuke waited for Tsunade to calm down since she had started saying some not so nice things about the Hunter. In the mean time Sakura had been able to tell Naruto what had been said.

"Sakura, why are you writing? And why does Sasuke look like he can't see us?" Shizune asked, causing Tsunade to stop her tirade.

"That's because of what happened." Tsunade looked back to Sasuke.

"No idea what he said, but we were hit by some sort of jutsu and a stone," Naruto said, unable to wait for Sakura much longer.

"You were hit by a stone?" Shizune asked, and Sakura started shaking her head, slapping Naruto on the head.

"Itai."

Sakura continued writing. She wrote for quite a while, but finally she held up the paper to Naruto, so he could read it. "_When we came to the meeting place a man called Jojo (_really? I didn't remember his name_) came to us, telling that the Treasure Hunter could not make it to the meeting. However, he did want to make a new-"_ Naruto stopped reading for a while, and then turned to Sakura.

"What's written here?" He pointed to the paper. Sakura scribbled something down in hiragana._ "_Oh." Naruto said understandingly and proceeded reading.

"-_a new arrangement for next month. Naruto agreed and Jojo left. He probably left this stone behind._" At this point Sakura got the stone from her pocket, and handed it to Tsunade. "_It can store jutsus. Sasuke said he's heard of a clan that can take out someone's senses. That jutsu was probably stored in there. And we got hit by it. Sasuke can't see, Naruto can't hear and Sakura can't talk_." Naruto finished and lowered the scroll. "Is that all?" He turned it around, looking at the back of the paper.

"Why did you make another appointment?" Tsunade asked. "Are you sure he wasn't lying?"

"He gave us a scroll with an apology from the Hunter," Sasuke said, holding up the scroll. Shizune took it from him.

After Tsunade had read it, she still didn't seem satisfied. "Do you know how much trouble it cost me to get this single meeting? It wasn't without reason two months passed." She looked at Naruto, because he had agreed to have another meeting. "Ask him, and tell him to stop grinning," she told Sakura.

Sakura immediately began writing. Naruto looked over to her, at what she was scribbling. He frowned when he read the last note, and looked up to Tsunade.

"Why shouldn't I? He deserves one last chance."

"Does he?" Tsunade asked, obviously not agreeing, neither did anyone else. Naruto just stared at her.

"He does."

Tsunade looked up, raising an eyebrow.

"You can hear?" Sasuke asked. "I had a feeling Kyuubi would heal you before us." However, Naruto stayed silent, still looking at Tsunade. He had just guessed correctly what she'd said.

"It will be his last chance, but he deserves this last one," he said when Tsunade didn't say anything else.

"I still don't agree, but you already gave it to him, so we can't take it back now." Tsunade sighed, folding her hands in front of her. Then she noticed Naruto was looking over to Sakura for an explanation. "He still can't hear?"

Before Sakura could explain what Tsunade had said, Tsunade stopped her. "Wait, just tell him to go home." She sighed. "What a bother."

Naruto had read Sakura's explanation. "Home? Are you sure?"

"Yes, yes, you can go." Tsunade waved her hand. "No use for the three of you to stay here like this. Go home and get better. Go."

-x-

Naruto pulled Sasuke back home, even though Sasuke would be perfectly able to walk home on his own. He probably had the whole of Konoha memorized by Sharingan or something.

"Do we still have enough empty scrolls? We need to be able to talk to each other."

Sasuke nodded before he pulled Naruto to a stop.

Naruto turned around, raising his eyebrow. "What is it?"

"I'm hungry," Sasuke said, rubbing his stomach. Naruto nodded, before he started to grin.

"Ramen," he almost sand, smiling, and pulled Sasuke along once more.

"No-" Sasuke tried to object, but Naruto took advantage of his deafness.

"Wait, Naruto!"

Naruto ignored Sasuke, even as he was struggling against Naruto, which Naruto must have noticed for sure.

"Ramen, ramen, ramen," he kept on singing.

Eventually Sasuke sighed and let Naruto take him to his favourite ramen stand. He smiled when he felt Naruto's tail happily sweep around him.

"Next time, I choose."

-x-

Naruto knocked on Kakashi's door. It took a while (read about 15-20 minutes), but finally Kakashi opened the door.

"Even opening the door takes this much time," Naruto muttered, annoyingly swishing his tail against Sasuke's leg.

"Ah, you came to pick up Akira-kun," he grinned, or at least Naruto thought he did. Kakashi turned around. "Akira-kun!"

"So, how was the meeting with the hunter? You're back earlier than I thought."

"We ran into some trouble," Sasuke said.

Kakashi narrowed his one visible eye. "You can't see?" he asked, studying Sasuke's empty stare slightly to his left.

"I can't."

"What is taking so long? Nothing happened to Akira-kun, I hope?" Naruto looked from Sasuke to Kakashi.

"He can't-"

"Hear, no."

"Hm, interesting. Can I assume Sakura can't speak?"

"You can."

"Tou-chan!"

"What is he saying? What are you saying?" Naruto looked at Sasuke.

Sasuke hunched down when Akira came running to him, and hugged him. "Tou-chan, you're back already." He smiled.

"I am. You had fun?"

"I did!" Akira suddenly pulled back from the hug, and touched Sasuke's face. Sasuke pulled back a little at the sudden touch. "You're different," was all Akira said, stroking his small hand over Sasuke's face carefully.

Naruto looked back to Kakashi, getting a tiny bit irritated. "So, everything is alright?"

Kakashi nodded.

"Will you carry me home?" Akira asked, letting his hand fall from Sasuke's face. He slowly shuffled to Sasuke's back.

"Have you eaten already?"

"I have, we have. Kakashi-san made pancakes."

"He did?" Sasuke asked, seriously surprised. "He can?"

Kakashi gave him a glare, but of course Sasuke could not see that.

"Sort of," Akira told him honestly, and climbed up his back.

Sasuke stood up, holding Akira up, and smirked.

Naruto was again looking between Sasuke and Kakashi, and still nothing was explained to him. He gave up.

He gave a soft growl in frustration. "Let's go." He turned around and gripped Sasuke's sleeve.

"Thank you for letting me stay over, Kakashi-san."

Kakashi waved his hand lazily and went back inside.

"I met Kakashi-san's dogs today. They were really great and funny. Pakkun-" Akira told all about what he liked about the dogs to Sasuke.

Sasuke smiled, hearing his son talk animatedly.

"Kou-chan didn't really like the dogs; he was making screeching noises all the time, and eventually flew away." Akira pouted. "I think he went home." He looked down to Naruto, who was slowly walking beside Sasuke, still holding his sleeve, but not pulling it anymore.

"Have you seen Kou-chan, Naruto?" Naruto didn't respond. "Naruto?"

"He can't hear you."

"He can't?"

And so Sasuke ended up retelling the story (sort of, Akira didn't need to know all the details).

-x-

Naruto felt some movement beside him, and opened his eyes. Sasuke was sitting on the edge of the bed with Akira beside him. Akira was shivering and was awfully pale.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked Akira when he found his shoulders; he was shivering.

"I don't feel so good, and I vomited in bed." He sniffed and Sasuke heard he was crying.

"Don't worry, you couldn't help it."

Akira began making gagging sounds, and Sasuke quickly took him to the bathroom.

Naruto hadn't heard anything, but had seen Akira in the dark. He wasn't feeling good, that much he understood.

Naruto left the bed, taking a scroll with him, and walked over to the bathroom. There he found Akira hanging over the toilet, shivering as he was vomiting. Sasuke was stroking his back gently, whispering to him. Naruto could see Akira was sobbing in the small breaks between the vomiting.

Sasuke 'looked' up in the direction of Naruto, and held out his hand to take the scroll. Naruto gave it, and Sasuke tried to scribble something down quickly, so he could get back to Akira.

Naruto took the scroll again and read: 'Akira vomited when he was still in bed, could you clean it?' Of course Sasuke couldn't see it, so Naruto should do it. Naruto nodded and left the room.

Eventually Akira was done, and together with Sasuke he walked back to the bed.

"It's cold," Akira told Sasuke as he stood shivering, his teeth clattering.

"You can get in bed with us," Sasuke told him, not thinking it was right to let his sick son sleep in his own bed. Since Naruto couldn't hear and Sasuke couldn't see, they wouldn't be any great help when he was in his own room.

Naruto came back, holding a pail in his hand. He put in on the nightstand next to Sasuke, and went to the other side of the bed to get in.

"You're staying in bed with us, right?" he asked Akira, and Sasuke nodded as Akira slowly got into the bed, slowly nestling himself under the covers.

"My stomach hurts," he sobbed, still crying. He lay down.

Sasuke was writing something again. He gave the scroll to Naruto when he finished.

"_Warm Akira up,_" it said and "_His stomach hurts, and he is cold. He has a fever too._"

Naruto nodded and lay down in bed. "Come Akira-kun, I'll warm you up." Naruto wrapped his arms around Akira, and pulled him closer. Then he noticed Kou on Akira's shoulder. He pulled him off the already sick boy, and attached him to his own shoulder – Sasuke couldn't see it anyway.

"Tou-chan," Akira sniffed.

"Don't worry; you've been ill before, haven't you?"

Akira nodded, and then remembered Sasuke couldn't see that, even if he wasn't blind, because the lights were off now. "Y-yes," he sniffed.

"You will be alright." Sasuke reached forward, and softly laid his hand on Akira's stomach, gently rubbing it. "Is that better?"

Akira sniffled. "Un."

-oXo-

A/N: Meaning of the title: see, hear and speak (just check Wikipedia ;)


	31. Chapter 31: Is that what I'm thinking

**Chapter 31: Is that what I'm thinking…**

_19__th__ of November_

Naruto stood in the bathroom, staring sleepily into the mirror while he dried his body with a towel. When he'd woken up just now, he had turned around to find the two ravens lying against each other. Akira was shivering, but seemed to have warmed up, having a fever. Sasuke was probably nice and cool to lie against. Naruto knew from experience.

Sasuke had once explained how normal fevers worked, because apparently the fevers Naruto had as a child had been different; worse but a lot shorter.

He sighed as he twitched his ears; he still couldn't hear anything. He stared at his ears in the mirror for a while, turning and twitching them. It didn't matter, he heard nothing.

Then he noticed the door opening. Akira came shuffling inside, still shivering. His cheeks were very red from the fever. He shuffled to the toilet, and pulled down his pyjama pants.

Naruto turned back to the wall, and grabbed some clothes to pull on. When he was dressed Akira was standing beside him, looking up sadly.

"I don't feel so good."

Naruto hunched down, and grabbed his shoulders gently. "Let's go back to bed; sleep is the best medicine in this case."

Akira shivered and hugged Naruto. "Please carry me." He put his arms around Naruto's neck, and Naruto understood he wanted him to carry him, so he picked him up. He put Akira back in bed next to Sasuke. "I'll make you some tea. Do you think you can eat something?"

Akira nodded. "I'll try."

Sasuke sat up in bed when Akira was placed beside him.

"Akira?" He felt a small hand fold around his arm. "Is it morning?"

"Un."

"I'll make some breakfast for you too, then you can stay in bed with Akira-kun." Naruto turned around and walked away.

Sasuke felt for Akira's arm, finding his shoulder instead. "Are you feeling a bit better?" He moved his hand over Akira to find his forehead.

"It's warm," he told his father. Sasuke pressed his own forehead against Akira's. "What are you doing?" Akira asked, looking up to Sasuke as he moved away, his hand still on Akira's shoulder.

"Feeling how warm you are." Sasuke moved his injured arm over to Akira's other shoulder.

"I don't feel so good. My stomach hurts."

"You think you have to-?"

"No." Akira hugged Sasuke. "I don't want to be sick."

"Everyone gets ill every now and then."

Akira sniffed. "But you and Naruto are injured. I wanted to help _you_."

Sasuke was silent for a moment and then smiled. "You always take good care of us. Remember when I had all those scratches and you put all those band-aids on me. You did that very nicely." Actually Akira had used a bit more band-aids than had been necessary, but Naruto had shoved his elbow so viciously in Sasuke's side, Sasuke had been unable to say something about it (because he had been out of breath from the punch, which had caused him more harm than the scratches had).

Akira smiled. "You really think so?" He coughed, and Sasuke pulled him closer, putting the blankets around the two of them. Akira wanted to push them away for he was warm.

"You mustn't get cold; sweating is good when you have a fever." Akira pouted.

"Tou-chan?" Akira slowly asked after a while, pressing his face deeper into Sasuke's chest.

"Hn?"

"Do you... Are you..."

Sasuke felt he wanted to ask something important for him, so he began stroking though Akira's slightly sweated hair. "Don't be afraid to ask me anything," he said softly. He didn't wanted Akira to be afraid of him, not in any way. He would hate it if Akira couldn't tell him everything.

"Would you think it... bad for me-" He stopped and coughed again. Akira was silent for a moment after that. Sasuke didn't move either. "I would like to become a medical ninja," he finally said very softly.

Sasuke smiled. "I had a feeling you would."

Akira pushed himself away so he could look up to Sasuke's black unseeing eyes. They looked a bit red because of the jutsu. "You did?"

"Of course."

"You're... not mad?" he asked very softly; Sasuke almost hadn't heard him.

"Why would I be?"

"I thought you would like me to be a normal ninja like you." Not that Sasuke was a 'normal' ninja, but he was in Akira's eyes.

"I was long glad you wanted to become a ninja."

"Are you proud of me?"

"Very much."

Akira smiled so broadly Sasuke could actually hear it. He could feel this had been bothering Akira for a while now.

"I love you, tou-chan." Akira nestled himself into Sasuke's lap.

"I love you to."

-x-

Akira was sleeping on the couch, and Sasuke sat beside him on the ground, stroking his hair softly as he seemed lost in thought.

Naruto stood in the door opening to the kitchen, leaning against the doorpost while watching Sasuke do this. He had no idea what had happened in bed this morning before he had brought in their breakfast, but something had.

Naruto smiled as he saw the concerned Uchiha sitting there. Ever since the Kyuubi festival Sasuke had come to understand how truly important Akira had become to him. And Naruto expected he had been terrified of the idea of losing his son -his family- once more. Naruto understood all that, he really _understood_ it, because that was the same way he felt about Akira.

Even though Akira always called him Naruto, not in a way of casually talking about someone, but also not in a way of talking to family, but more in a way he spoke to animals; Naruto didn't find that insulting at all. Of course he would like for Akira to understand he was human, but the way Akira took care of animals, with so much love... Being called Naruto in the way Akira did seemed like being closer to him than an uncle. Naruto was proud of it.

He saw Sasuke sigh, and he decided to make some sound to indicate he was there. He unfolded his arms, and Sasuke looked into his direction.

"Naruto?"

Naruto smiled seeing the familiar way he moved his mouth. "Yeah."

Sasuke smiled and turned his head back to the couch, while Naruto got closer and sat down beside him. "You really have become able to see what he means to you, haven't you?"

Sasuke looked up to Naruto surprised by what he'd said. "See?" he repeated, and his hand moved over to touch his eyes. Then he suddenly smiled. "I have." He nodded once. Naruto blinked at the unexpected reaction. Then Sasuke moved his hand over to Naruto, touching his cheek, slowly moving his hand to Naruto's ears. First he followed the outline of his normal ear, and then went up to the soft fox ear.

"Are you able to hear as well?"

Naruto just looked at Sasuke as he moved his mouth. He hadn't heard him, and he couldn't read his lips either. SO he didn't understand.

Then Sasuke let go, and moved back to Akira. "You will come to understand soon."

This time Naruto wasn't even aware he was talking since he had turned his head away.

"Shall I get some tea?" he stood up, not waiting for an answer in any way, and moved to the kitchen. In the kitchen he put some water in the kettle and placed it on the fire. He stayed watching the pot, unable to hear it whistle, but looking for the right amount of steam to come out.

He opened a cabinet to get teabags, but there were none. The box was empty. He grumbled and moved over to the living room. "Have to go buy some tea." He waited for Sasuke to nod, and then left.

As he came out the small groceries store he almost walked into Sakura. He grinned. "Sorry, Sakura-chan." Sakura smiled back.

She grabbed some paper and began writing. '_How are you and Sasuke doing? Any better?_'

Naruto shook his head. "No, still the same as yesterday. You?" Sakura indicated that the same was going on with her. "Is Sai at home?" Sakura nodded.

"Both having time off." Then he grinned to her, and she pushed him against his shoulder.

"I have to go back now, I was just getting some tea for Akira-kun; he's ill." Sakura's eyes widened. "He'll be fine. Sasuke is taking good care of him."

Sakura smiled and scribbled something down again. '_Tell him to get well._'

"I will."

Naruto opened the door to his home and stepped inside. He kicked his sandals out, making one fall to his right, the other to his left; completely opposite to Sasuke's and Akira sandals, which were standing neatly to the side. He stepped onto the wooden floor, and walked into the kitchen directly.

He probably had to boil the water again. Before he did so he peaked into the living room, to find Sasuke having fallen asleep beside Akira.

"Aw."

-x-

Sasuke yawned and stretched himself out. His neck hurt, he had been lying in a wrong position. He opened his eyes, and looked at Akira. He was a bit red from the warmth. He was sitting up, nibbling on a cracker. Sasuke smiled and wanted to reach out to the small boy, when he suddenly stopped.

His eyes widened. "I can see," he said fazed.

Akira looked to him while Sasuke moved his hand in front of his eyes. Things were still a bit fuzzy, but he could see.

"You can?" Akira asked. When Sasuke smiled at hi, he smiled too. "You got better before me."

Sasuke laughed softly. He turned to his left and saw Naruto sitting at the table, hanging over some magazine while eating a cracker too. Suddenly he noticed Sasuke was staring at him and looked up.

"Hm?" And then he noticed: Sasuke was looking at him, really looking _at_ him. "You can see?" he asked surprised, and Sasuke nodded. "I thought I was the fast healer in this house," Naruto said a little hurt. Sasuke shrugged.

"You want a cracker?" Naruto held up a box with cookies.

"You can have mine," Akira said slowly. Sasuke faced his son. "I'm not so hungry."

"Try to eat a little bit more, you have to eat something." Sasuke sat up, and moved so he could sit on the couch beside Akira. Akira pulled his blanket away from under Sasuke, and covered Sasuke and himself with it. "You're still warm," Sasuke said feeling his forehead again. "You haven't felt like vomiting today?"

"This morning." Akira sighed as he moved the cracker to his mouth once more and took a tiny bite. "I'm not hungry."

"My mother always made me some juice. I like tomato juice." Sasuke looked up to Naruto, who was staring at them, though not understanding a word. "I bet Naruto would like carrot juice," Sasuke smiled. He looked back down to Akira. "And you? Apple juice, or pear or pineapple-"

"I like pears." Akira held out the cracker to Sasuke. "Kaa-chan made soup," he said in such a small voice Sasuke had trouble hearing.

"I can do that," Sasuke said, "if you like." He felt like he needed to prove to Akira that he could take care of him as well as Akiharu could (even better).

Akira smiled, and then rested his head against Sasuke's arm. "I would."

Sasuke stayed sitting for a couple of minutes, but then stood up and went to the kitchen. Naruto still followed Sasuke with his eyes, curious what had been said, but he stayed sitting on the floor nonetheless.

After a while he began shifting, his curiosity was taking the most of him, and thus he decided to stand up. Akira was lying on the couch again, covered in the blanket with his eyes closed.

In the kitchen Naruto found Sasuke cooking, even though it was not time to do that yet. "What are you doing?"

Sasuke looked up and saw Naruto. He opened a drawer, took a pen and some paper from it, and began writing. _'Making soup for Akira.' _

"Ah," Naruto said understandingly. He walked closer to Sasuke, and laid his half an arm on Sasuke's back as Sasuke was cutting some vegetables.

"You're very good at taking care of Akira. I wouldn't know what to do when he's ill."

Sasuke looked up and shrugged. "My mother-" then he realised Naruto couldn't hear and wrote down, '_I'm just doing what my mother did when I was ill._'

Naruto smiled. He watched Sasuke work for a bit longer before he started to help him.

Suddenly Sasuke looked up, and walked away to the hall. Had someone called? Naruto moved so he could look into the hall, where he saw Sasuke close the door again. So Naruto turned back to cutting the tomato's for Sasuke's tomato soup.

However, Sasuke didn't return, so Naruto peered into the hall again, seeing nothing. He decided to walk over to the living room. He was so used to hearing everything, and realised that was the way he worked. He didn't even bother to try and sense someone's chakra anymore at all. He should try that again. He wasn't very good at that, but he could do it.

He took a look around the corner, and noticed a visitor. He actually had no idea who it was. A girl from around 15 stood in the living room talking to Sasuke. She had shoulder length dark blond hair, tied in two pigtails, and purplish eyes. On her face there was on each cheek an outline of a five pedal flower, drawn in black with a dot in the middle. She wore a standard ninja outfit, which was adorned with all kinds of clips and key rings with cute animals.

"Er, hello?" Naruto said as he took a step forward, out of the kitchen. The girl looked up, clearly shocked about his presence having thought no one else had been in the house except for Sasuke and the sleeping Akira.

Sasuke said something, and her mouth made an 'o'. He'd probably told her Naruto couldn't hear them.

Immediately she continued her conversation with Sasuke, who looked both annoyed and interested.

Naruto knew he wasn't the most polite person himself, but she was just pretending he wasn't even there. He crossed his arms.

"Who are-?" Naruto started, but stopped when the girl laid her hand on Sasuke's arm. Did she think Naruto was just for the housekeeping or something?

Sasuke didn't do anything about the hand, and that was the part that shocked Naruto, not so much the touching; Sasuke had more female admirers that like touching him, but then he would always try to get rid of them.

All Naruto could do was stare; he didn't even notice Sasuke was in fact looking over the (to him small) girl's shoulder to Akira.

The hand moved up over his arm, and then slowly left it to move into the direction of his hip.

"What are you doing?" Naruto suddenly asked, sounding very surprised.

The girl stopped talking, letting her hand drop as both she and Sasuke looked up to him. The girl seemed annoyed while she spoke to Sasuke. Sasuke nodded and grasped a scroll from the table, writing something, holding the scroll close to his eyes. He still couldn't see everything yet.

'_You'll come to know, later._' Naruto slowly nodded.

Then Sasuke indicated to the soup by stirring the air. Naruto gasped as he remembered the soup on the fire.

Quickly he went back to the kitchen, to take a look at the soup. Luckily it looked fine. And as he stirred the not-really-soup-yet liquid, he wondered who the girl could be. Sasuke had never mentioned her, as far as Naruto knew, and he had never seen a ninja like her before either. She was still young, so that could explain things.

All the thinking did him no good; he just didn't know who she was.

A hand suddenly touched his shoulder, making Naruto jumped a metre into the air. "Aargh!" He had been so lost in thought that he hadn't noticed the girl had left, and that Sasuke had been standing behind him for a while now.

Sasuke said something. Naruto had a feeling it was 'you're so jumpy'.

"I'm not, I was just concentrating." Naruto huffed, and Sasuke raised an eyebrow. He was concentrating on stirring soup? "I sort of... was?" Naruto grinned awkwardly. Sasuke shook his head, only to lay it on Naruto's shoulder after he finished. He kissed Naruto, who just kept stirring the soup, which was now really becoming soup.

Sasuke reached around Naruto, grasping for the spoon in Naruto's hand. He moved Naruto's hand so he could taste the soup. Then he let go of Naruto's hand, and grasped for the salt and pepper and some other spices Naruto would never have thought to add. After he'd done that Naruto gave him another spoon to taste, and Sasuke grinned. He moved the wooden spoon over to Naruto so he could taste as well.

"Who was that?" Naruto asked, and Sasuke let Naruto go. He looked up to Naruto, and saw confusion in his eyes. Sasuke closed his eyes for a moment, and then laid his hand on Naruto's chest.

"What does your heart say?"

Naruto just stared at Sasuke for a while, but Sasuke didn't move away or do anything else for that matter, just staring into Naruto's eyes, feeling his heartbeat.

As Naruto stared back into the warm black eyes, he stopped thinking about who she was, and 'listened' to Sasuke instead.

"She's ANBU?" Sasuke smiled and nodded. "So young?"

Sasuke stared at him for a moment before he held up a couple of fingers.

"Four." A different number. "Three." Suddenly Naruto's eyes widened and his mouth fell open. "She's forty-three?" he yelled. Sasuke nodded. "But she... With all the cute animals... She really-?" Naruto moved his hand over his chest, indicating the badges and so on the girl's uniform. Sasuke smiled at Naruto's reaction, and laid both his hands on either upper arm of Naruto.

"Is this because I couldn't hear her?" Sasuke nodded again. If Naruto had been able to hear her, he would have known she wasn't that young anymore; she had a much deeper voice than Naruto could have had imagined. "So she ignored me, and was flirting with you-"

Sasuke looked up. "What?"

"You didn't notice she was touching your arm?" Sasuke's look told him he hadn't. Naruto sighed, and laid his head against Sasuke's chest. Naruto felt Sasuke was still grumbling about the fact he hadn't noticed her touching him, making Naruto grin.

"You were so concerned about Akira-kun that you didn't notice."

"I…"

"You were."

Sasuke folded his arms around Naruto. After a while Sasuke actually began to fiddle with one of Naruto's ears. Naruto twitched the ears as it began annoying him, but Sasuke didn't stop.

"If you want to go back to Akira-kun, you can say so." Naruto pulled away from Sasuke, looking up to him.

Sasuke stared back and then smiled. "Okay." They both walked into the living room. Sasuke sat down beside the couch again, and Naruto sat down so he could see the both of them.

Sasuke began stroking Akira's hair while the small boy slept on. After a while he moved his head a little towards Naruto.

"You thought I let her flirt with me?" He looked over to Naruto, who was frowning, trying to think what Sasuke might have said.

"Um…" Naruto narrowed his eyes, still not able to think of what Sasuke had said.

Sasuke smirked. "I think I'll need to have a word with her. Captain or not."

"The woman?" Naruto asked, tilting his head. Sasuke nodded. "I still can't believe she's 43; she looked more like 17."

"Really?" Sasuke shrugged and looked back to Akira. Slowly teal eyes opened, looking up to him.

"Tou-chan?" A small hand came from under the blanket, and gripped Sasuke's sleeve.

"I'm here, Akira."

Naruto looked down and saw he was waking up too.

"I'm thirsty."

Sasuke turned back to Naruto. "Will you make some tea?"

Naruto thought for a second again. "Tea?"

Sasuke smiled. "Yes." Naruto smiled back, stood up, and walked to the kitchen.

"Naruto can hear again?" Akira asked softly.

"No, but I think he soon will."

"How come he understood what you were saying?"

Sasuke looked down to Akira. "He listens to his heart. Like I did; when I was able to 'see' what I hadn't seen with my eyes, I-"

"How… how can you see without your eyes?"

Sasuke smiled. "You'll find out one day."

Akira huffed, making him cough.

Naruto came back with the tea, handing it to Sasuke so he could help Akira drink.

Suddenly Sasuke looked up to the other side of the room, toward the porch.

"What?" Naruto asked. "Visitors?" He looked around as well.

"Naruto-sensei? Sasuke-sama." Eri stepped onto the porch. "Akira-kun."

Kenji followed her, and Ryomaru came in last.

"Hey, wondering why I'm not training you?" Naruto asked, smiling.

"No, we already know," Kenji said.

"Chouji-san explained it to us," Eri said.

Naruto looked over to Sasuke. "They know?" Sasuke nodded.

"You can see, Sasuke-sama?" Kenji asked, looking at Sasuke.

"More or less," he answered.

"And sensei?" Eri asked, looking over to Naruto.

"Not yet."

"So… K-Kyuubi," Ryomaru softly started, "h-hasn't-" His voice died down.

Eri shuffled uncomfortably next to Ryomaru, and even Kenji didn't say anything to Ryomaru.

"What are they saying?" Naruto whispered to Sasuke, smiling.

"The Kyuubi will not help-" Sasuke stopped, noticing Naruto was closely watching him.

"Ah, oh, I understand," the blond said.

Sasuke almost raised his eyebrows. "He will not be able-" Sasuke continued, only to be interrupted.

"-to heal this. It's a jutsu," Naruto said, smiling.

His students' eyes grew wider. "You _can_ hear?" Eri asked perplexed.

Naruto was still smiling, but didn't say anything.

"He doesn't," Kenji said.

"But how-?"

"He can hear tou-chan without hearing," Akira said, coughing right after that.

"He can? How?" Eri looked over to Kenji and Ryomaru; the both shrugged.

"Are y-you alright, Akira-kun?" Ryomaru looked over to the small boy.

"He will be fine, he just has a fever." Sasuke felt Akira grip his arm.

"Then he'll be fine."

Ryomaru shuffled closer to the table and sat down. Eri and Kenji were still a bit baffled. "Sensei?" Ryomaru carefully pulled on Naruto's long left sleeve.

Naruto looked down to him. "Hm?" He already understood what Ryomaru wasn't asking, even if he could hear. It was something Ryomaru did quite often.

He rolled up his sleeve, and held out his unfinished arm to Ryomaru. Ryomaru carefully took it in his hands, and started inspecting it and doing some exercises.

"Come sit down." Naruto pointed to the table. Finally Eri and Kenji were able to move. Kenji tried to take the place closest to Sasuke, but apparently Eri didn't want to give it up to him. A small struggle followed; Naruto could hardly keep his laugh.

Finally Eri and Kenji stopped when Sasuke looked up, Eri sitting down closest to Sasuke, Kenji almost frowning.

Eri immediately started talking, telling all kinds of things, no one that could hear were really interested in; Ryomaru was focusing on Naruto's arm, and neither Sasuke nor Kenji were much of small talkers. Akira tried to listen, but he was tired.

Naruto at first tried to listen, or see what she might be talking about, but failed. He had absolutely no idea what she was saying, or to whom for that matter.

Eri apparently didn't notice the uncomfortable situation the rest were in, being able to have a one-sided conversation. Naruto was actually quite surprised.

"Um, Eri-chan?" he finally said, unable to see the look on Sasuke's and Kenji's faces.

Eri turned to face him. "Yes, sensei?"

"You, er… you-?" Naruto stopped. He had no idea how to tell her this.

"I did, I told you I would do it if he did that again." Eri went on, and Naruto was unable to squeeze in another word.

Eventually Sasuke stood up and walked away. This made Kenji quite disappointed, and he elbowed Eri. "You and your rambling!"

"What? I was filling up the silence."

"More like drowning it in words."

"I'm sorry that you were unable to form stupid questions to ask Sasuke-sama." Eri huffed.

"What?" Kenji looked angry at her. "I never do! I only-"

"You are such a-"

"Um, team?" Naruto spoke. Kenji and Eri looked up to Naruto, their arms already strangled in between the two. "It's okay to just say to the other that you love-"

"WE DO NOT LIKE EACH OTHER!" the two bellowed at the same time.

Ryomaru had to cover his ears, and Akira immediately sat up straight.

"I think I actually heard that," Naruto joked.

Eri moved around Kenji, about to hit her sensei, but Naruto stopped her by grasping her hand. "Haha, you two are like a married couple."

Hell broke loose.

Before Naruto knew what was going on, two kids were on top of him. He laughed loudly, trying to fend them off.

Ryomaru and Akira just sat watching. Even Sasuke glanced around the corner of the kitchen to see what was going on.

"Can you stop it?" Ryomaru eventually asked, seeing neither party was about to give up. Eri and Kenji actually formed a good team, when they had to defend themselves against Naruto.

Naruto laid his hand on Eri's head, holding her on a safe distance. His tail gripped Kenji's arm and kept him away.

"Could you stop?" Ryomaru asked again, much louder. The trio stopped, looking at him. Naruto looked at first confused as to why the two stopped attacking him, looking from the one to the other. "Akira-kun is ill, he needs rest," Ryomaru said angrily, his hands resting on his sides.

Eri guiltily looked over to the small patient. "I'm very sorry, Akira-kun."

"Hm, yes," Kenji agreed.

"It's alright," Akira said, before coughing once more.

"That's enough," Sasuke said, walking into the room. "We need to eat, and Akira needs rest."

"We understand, Sasuke-sama."

"We are sorry for the inconvenience," Kenji added, making Eri glance at him.

"Thank you for the tea." Ryomaru waited for the other two at the porch, before closing the sliding door behind him.

Sasuke sighed, walked over to Akira, and handed him a cup of soup. "Here."

"What just happened," Naruto asked confused, moving his eyes through the room, as if looking for clues to explain him why his team had suddenly left.

"You know what happened," Sasuke told him. He stood up again, and walked back to the kitchen to get some more soup.

-x-

"Akira is finally asleep," Sasuke told Naruto while sitting down beside him on the couch, leaning against him. Naruto looked up and smiled.

Naruto clicked on the remote, zapping. Sasuke just lay against him, like Naruto just enjoying each other's company, not really watching the television.

"Can you hear me?" Sasuke suddenly asked, laying his head on Naruto's shoulder.

"Almost." Naruto didn't even look up to see Sasuke's eyes. Sasuke smiled.

His hand slowly moved up, curling around Naruto's chest. "You don't need to."

"We understand each other without words," Naruto said.

"Exactly."

"Though, I wouldn't mind getting my hearing back." Naruto pouted. "I miss your voice."

"My voice."

"It's so…" Naruto sighed, looking like he was lost in thought.

"So?"

"Can you read me something?" Naruto moved his head to face Sasuke.

"My voice is what?" Sasuke asked again.

"Please?" Naruto blinked a few times. When Sasuke still didn't react, Naruto kissed him. "For me? I'll be quiet, I promise."

"That's quite a promise." Sasuke moved away from Naruto, walking to the bookshelves. He looked over the books standing there for a while. His finger moved over some of the backs. He sometimes shook his head and then went on to the next book.

"Sasuke, it doesn't matter which one, I can't hear it anyway. Just pick one," Naruto whined, missing Sasuke against him.

"It does matter to me." Sasuke went on to find the perfect book for this moment.

Naruto slid down the couch, pouting. "Too long," he mumbled. "Come~"

Sasuke pretended not to hear.

Naruto was by now sitting on the floor. He slumped down, and slowly crawled over to Sasuke. "Sasuke~"

"Be patient, you wanted this." Naruto sighed, moving his hand up Sasuke's leg. "Naruto; not helping."

Naruto wrapped both his arms around Sasuke's leg. "Hurry~"

"You are like a kid."

"You are like an old man." This made Sasuke stop his search.

"What?" He looked down his leg to find two sparkling blue eyes look up at him, waiting, begging, longing. "I am like an old man?" He narrowed his eyes, noticing how hard it was while he kept looking into those fierce blue eyes.

"Hmm?" Naruto nearly whined.

"Stop giving me that look."

Naruto continued his stare. Puppy eyes slowly blinked. It was as if Sasuke could see it close in slow-motion. They were so cute, he was being sucked into-

He shook his head, and placed his hand on Naruto's forehead. "Stop it, I'll hurry up already."

"Ah, finally," Naruto swished his tail happily over the ground. "Which one?" He stood up and leant next to Sasuke to look at the book Sasuke moved his hand to, about to catch it.

"Ah, not that one," Naruto whined.

Sasuke stopped his movement, halfway of getting the book from the shelve. He sighed. "You said yourself that you can't hear it anyway."

Naruto shook his head. "No, I don't like that one. Don't you have a new book?" Naruto searched the shelves for some unknown cover, something new. He would soon find out his memory of which books there were, and those he hadn't heard of, was quite poor. He had no idea if there were new book here or not.

Had he heard the story of that book before? It looked familiar, but he couldn't really remember. Perhaps that one.

Naruto moved his hand to a book, but Sasuke stopped him. Naruto looked up questioningly. Sasuke stared back. Slowly Naruto moved his hand to the next book, hovering in front of it. Sasuke shook his head ever so slightly.

"Eh…" Naruto look back to follow his own hand.

And then he saw it. How he could not have noticed such a book before was beyond him (probably because all books looked similar to him).

"Ah, that one!" Naruto took the orange book from the shelve, and held it up to Sasuke, who frowned.

"You must be kidding."

Naruto smiled, still holding the book out to Sasuke.

"Just because it has an orange cover?"

Naruto's smile became wider.

"You don't even know what it is."

"Please Sasuke?"

"But it-"

"I feel this is the one."

"The one… Naruto, this is-"

"-the book I chose for today to read."

"It is-"

"Sasuke!" Naruto pushed the book into Sasuke's chest, still smiling. "Come."

Naruto pulled Sasuke to the couch with him, pushed him down, and curled up to him.

"Read, read, read the orange book," Naruto sang.

"You don't even know the title. Naruto I told you not to pick books out just because of their nice covers."

Naruto was humming now, his eyes closed, his head resting against Sasuke's chest. "Read, read." His tail swirled around the couch, and purring was sounding softly on the background. "Read the orange book."

Sasuke sighed deeply once more, and got the book on his lap. "When you can hear again, I'll read this book to you every evening."

"Rea~d." Naruto was waiting to feel Sasuke talk. He moved his arms around Sasuke's waist, pulling him closer.

Sasuke opened the book, turned the first few pages, and took a deep breath.

"A; used to express admiration, wonder, danger, etc. _A wakatta_ – Oh, I see. Aa; adverb, such; that; to such a degree; to such an extend. Aaiu; attributive, that kind; like that; such._ Ai; love-_"*

Naruto's smiled broadened. Even without actually hearing Sasuke's voice, he liked him reading to him.

"Love," he mumbled, curling his tail around Sasuke.

* * *

><p>"Tou-chan!"<p>

Both Naruto and Sasuke sat up straight on the bed.

"Was that Akira?" Naruto asked sleepily, rubbing some sand from his eyes.

"Must be." Sasuke pushed the blankets back, and went out of bed, only to be nearly run over by Akira when he opened the door.

"Tou-chan!" Akira yelled.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked concerned.

"Kou-chan? Where is Kou-chan?"

"Huh?" Sasuke stared at his son, trying to reach for the light button at the same time.

"He's right over there," Naruto said, pointing to a corner on the ceiling.

When Sasuke found the switch, and turned the light on, a soft screech sounded. Kou folded his wings closer around him, trying to hide from the bright light.

Akira gave a sigh from relieve.

"Why?" Sasuke asked.

"I thought he was held captive by a bearded man in a house on top of the Hokage monument, and then-"

"What?" Sasuke asked confused. "You had a dream?"

Akira stopped and thought this over. "I think… I did?"

Sasuke moved his hand over to Akira's forehead. "Your still warm. You still have a slight fever, which made you dream-"

"But Kou was gone, and-"

"He is not sleeping with you because you are ill, you know that."

Akira slowly nodded. "Sorry for waking you up."

"Come, you are catching a cold here like this." Sasuke brought Akira back to bed.

Kou seemed to grumble and hid deeper in his wings. Naruto smiled.

Somewhat later Sasuke got back, turned off the lights, and got into bed. "He's doing better already," he told Naruto.

"Good." Suddenly Naruto felt a hand through his hair.

"I knew it." Sasuke kept stroking the yellow spikes and black ears.

Automatically Naruto closed his eyes. "Hmm. Don't stop." His hand groped for Sasuke's face. When he had found it, he kissed it. "Knew what?" Naruto asked, as if he suddenly realized what Sasuke had said.

"Hn." Sasuke pulled Naruto back into a kiss.

Naruto twitched his ears as Sasuke's hands nearly went into one. Sasuke had no time to apologize.

"You want to make me deaf again? I can finally hear again."

Sasuke grinned. "I wouldn't be able to read you from a dictionary again."

"Huh?" Naruto looked up to Sasuke. "Dictionary?"

"You'll come to know next evening."

Naruto kept giving Sasuke a suspicious look; only to ruin it because he needed to yawn.

"Let's get back to sleep."

-oXo- or is it?

_However, before Sasuke could turn around in bed, Naruto stopped him. "Wait."_

_Sasuke looked up curiously, only to see Naruto get out a taco out of nowhere. He couldn't help it, but his eyebrows rose._

"_What is…"_

"_Come, let's eat it together," Naruto wagged his eyebrows._

"_Here? In bed?"_

"_Yes, Sasuke, let your tidiness go, and let's experiment." Naruto held the taco up to Sasuke's face._

"_Experiment?" He tried to push the taco out of his face. "What are you doing?"_

"_Just work along with me." Naruto pulled down the sheets some, and before Sasuke knew what was happening, Naruto was sitting on top of him, and so was the taco._

"_Naruto!"_

"_Don't worry, I'll clean it up afterwards." But instead of cleaning Sasuke up, Naruto made it worse, by smearing the content of the taco out over his pale chest._

"_Naruto!" Sasuke got up, but Naruto pushed him back._

"_Oops, I'm sorry Sasuke," Naruto said with a fake voice._

"_What are you-"_

"_I'll clean it, I promise." Naruto bowed down to Sasuke's chest, and started licking it._

"_Ah," Sasuke said in surprise._

"_I knew you would like it in the end," Naruto purred._

"_You just smeared a taco over me, you think I like-?"_

"_You say one thing, but your actions…" Naruto continued his licking, his eyes looking playfully and naughty._

"_I-" Sasuke took in a sharp breath when Naruto's tongue encircled his bellybutton._

_Mischievous eyes looked up. "Isn't this what you have always dreamed of?"_

"_What? No?"_

"_Are you sure? Sasuke?"_

"_I-"_

"Sasuke? Sasuke? Are you alright?"

Sasuke opened his eyes."Huh?"

"You were dreaming? Are you alright?" Naruto asked concerned. He knew Sasuke didn't have nightmares quite as often as he used to have, but was still worried.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Was it a good dream then?" Naruto tilted his head.

Sasuke stared back, before he turned his back to Naruto, pulling the sheets up. "It was."

-oXo-

Haha, last part you have to thank my beta for... MS3923 made me write it!... Okay maybe not... It was all me... except for that one word that started this... that's all MS's doing! (Can you tell which word it is?)

*From the Japanese-English Oxford Dictionary


	32. Chapter 32: The fox Naruto

**Chapter 32: The fox Naruto**

_30__th__ of November_

The small raven was hopping and skipping every other step while they were walking home. Naruto's arm had been hurting that morning. It hadn't started growing yet, but Sasuke told him he shouldn't go to the training field to train his team today.

Naruto had not agreed, but Sasuke had just taken Akira, and had gone to the training field to tell team 9 their sensei wasn't coming today.

"_Why? Is he in pain again?" Eri asked Sasuke, and Sasuke nodded, looking down to Akira as he was slowly drifting off._

"_That's a shame," Kenji said, "but we can also train-" He looked up to Sasuke with expectant eyes. Eri did the same, only better, and Ryomaru's fiddling increased._

"_I'm not going to train you three," Sasuke told them._

"_Ohw~" The disappointment was clearly visible. Slowly team 9 began shuffling over the field, doing nothing in particular._

_Sasuke sighed and shook his head. "Akira, don't wander away." Akira looked up and hurriedly came back to him, gripping his pants leg._

"_Wait," Sasuke told team 9, and Sasuke was amazed with the speed they were back in front of him, looking up hopefully. "I'm not going to train you today, I got other things to do, but-" eyes widened, "But I can give you some training exercises I want you to do for today." _

_Sasuke in fact had talked to Naruto just the other night about team 9, and Naruto had told him what he'd been planning on doing with them the next couple of weeks. "I might come back before 6 to check if you're still at it," he said softly before he turned around. "Let's go back, Akira." He put his hand on Akira's head to steer him a little, and they walked away._

He hadn't seen their faces but he knew they had been cheering after he'd said that. Sasuke still didn't like it that team 9 thought so highly of him and called him Sasuke-_sama_, but he'd slowly come to except... no, to just ignore it.

Naruto had told him he agreed with the way they acted towards him, and slowly -even though he wasn't seeing Naruto's team that often- they had gotten a little place in his heart… just a tiny place, don't let it go to your head; he wasn't interested in such things. Or so he told himself.

It was because they were so important to Naruto, and he was talking about them so often with such happiness, Sasuke just couldn't really ignore it anymore, like the way he'd tried in the beginning. He wasn't sure if he'd done that because he'd felt... He sighed, yes, it was true, he'd felt a little bit jealous; jealous of Naruto being taken away from him, even just a little.

He couldn't help it; Naruto was his and his alone. He didn't (try) to show it to others, but he was a very jealous type; 'possessive' Naruto called it. When he thought about that word, possessive, he didn't like it, but when Naruto told him he was possessive it suddenly sounded right and not that bad anymore. Naruto had that effect on him.

Akira was climbing up the few steps in front of their house before he opened the door. Absentmindedly Sasuke followed him, and was just removing his sandals when Akira was already finished, skipping into the living room.

Once there, Akira gasped and quickly came back.

Sasuke in the meantime was still in thought about his blond, and what a shame it was he'd to leave this afternoon for a meeting with Tsunade and the counsel. Since a year ago Sasuke had been allowed to take a seat as the head of his clan, together with the Hyuuga, Nara, Inuzuka, Akimishi, Yamanaka etc.

His first thought had been 'Yes, I would like to do that', because it meant the Uchiha had been accepted once more, and he could show everyone that he wasn't like the other Uchiha. However, when he had thought it over some more he had not wanted to do it anymore, thinking perhaps this was what they had wanted to let him think; that he had some power again and their trust, but in reality just wanting to control him.

However, Naruto had been so enthusiastic about it that Sasuke had accepted the seat after all. And then Akira came; Sasuke really had the feeling he had a small clan again (very small, he knew, but a clan nonetheless). Naruto had been invited once or twice by Tsunade to come too.

Sasuke grinned at the thought of what Sakura would say about that if she'd known. Sasuke knew what Tsunade was trying to do; she was slowly training Naruto. She had asked him more and more to help her with her paperwork, and talked to him about some negotiations etc. to tell him -without him knowing of course, Naruto was so dense- how to handle such things.

"Tou-chan," Akira whispered, and Sasuke's attention snapped to his son.

"Hn?"

"There's a fox lying on the porch!" Akira whispered enthusiastically. Sasuke looked up, thinking Akira was seeing things again. He sometimes thought he'd seen a wolf or a tiger, but in fact had seen just a glimpse of a cat or dog.

"Akira, I don't think a fox would come to lie on our porch-"

"But there is!" Akira told him. Kou was sitting in a small ball on Akira's shoulder, his hairs standing on end, as far as a bat can do that.

Sasuke sighed. "This isn't about Naruto again, is it?"

Akira grasped his father's hand, and pulled him into the living room. "See. See?" he whispered.

Sasuke had to admit that he was quite surprised to see Akira had been right. There really was a fox -a small fox- lying on the porch; in a very unfox-like way that was. It was lying on its belly, and its front legs were lying stretched to the front while the back legs stretched to the back, almost in a human-like way. As if it had fallen from the sky and had landed on its belly.

"Could it be Naruto?" Akira whispered, and Sasuke blinked. Akira began walking towards the fox, his hand outstretched; he wanted to pet it.

However, Sasuke grasped his son's outstretched hand. "You can't just walk over to a wild animal like that, Akira," he told him sternly. "They might very well be dangerous. If he gets scared he can bite you. He also could have flees or an illness." He let go of Akira's arm.

Akira looked at him with big innocent eyes, his lip quivered slightly. "I didn't know," he said sadly.

"You don't want Kou to get ill?" Sasuke eyed the small bat on Akira's shoulder. Kou was now glaring at the fox while his tiny claws gripped Akira's shirt tightly. Sasuke still didn't really like that thing, but his son was just so happy with the bat.

"No."

They both looked over to the still sleeping red fox.

"You know what?" Sasuke turned to Akira again, and hunched down. Akira looked up to him. "You've got that amazing book where all kind of animals are in-" Akira nodded as his eyes grew at the reminder of his beloved book. "Why don't you go upstairs, and find me what kind of fox this is?"

"I can do that! I can!" Akira was gone before Sasuke could do anything else.

Sasuke stood up and walked over to the porch, sitting down beside the small fox. Slowly he reached out his hand, and began stroking its head and ears. "What are you doing?"

The fox began purring. Sleepily it opened its eyes. They were bright blue, very unusual for a fox, but Sasuke thought the blue fitted better than any other colour of eyes.

The fox slowly looked up and yawned, stretching itself. Sasuke noticed how the left front leg was missing the lower part. By the looks of it, it had grown again. Judging from the length with the other 'arm' Sasuke could tell it had grown till halfway his lower arm.

"Naruto? Can I ask why you look like this? You want Akira to believe you're really a fox?" Sasuke smiled, and the fox looked up with confusion. Then down to its paw, only to stiffen up.

"Aah!" Naruto's voice sounded shocked, and Sasuke couldn't deny he was a bit surprised Naruto could actually talk like this. "I thought I would turn back," he whined. He sat up, and looked to Sasuke. "You want to know what happened." Sasuke nodded; of course he wanted to know what was going on!

"Well, you and Akira-kun had left, and I turned around in bed when my arm started hurting again." The head of the fox bowed down a little, and the tail swished a couple of times. "I'm not exactly sure what happened, but it hurt although it wasn't growing." The ears dropped even though Sasuke was still scratching Naruto's head.

"I think I blacked out a bit, when I woke up I looked like this, but the pain of the growing wasn't as painful anymore."

"It has grown quite a bit."

"Hasn't it?" Naruto and Sasuke both looked down to the leg, the arm, Naruto was holding up a little. "After the growing stopped I wanted to eat something, but I guess I fell asleep on the porch."

"Can't you change back by yourself?"

"Haven't tried yet, was just too tired." Naruto closed his eyes, grinning. Sasuke stared back, and saw Naruto's look change into one of concentration. Sasuke pulled his hand back, and watched with fascination as the nuzzle began to shrink, and the body began to grow. The hind legs became human legs, and the front legs became arms; soon a naked Naruto was sitting on the porch.

Naruto looked up to Sasuke. "That felt very weird," he said a little out of breath, looking slightly red.

"Painful?" Sasuke asked; it had sure looked like it.

"No, not at all, just... exciding and almost natural."

"You're discovering more and more things about yourself since your arm is growing back." Naruto smiled at the way Sasuke had said this. He hadn't said 'discover more about the Kyuubi' or 'more fox traits', but 'about yourself'. Sasuke was one of the few people that actually knew he was part demon; part Kyuubi. Naruto himself had often enough tried to deny it, but Sasuke never had.

Naruto smiled. "Hm," he agreed. His ears turned as he heard Akira slowly descending the stairs.

Sasuke noticed the movement of the ears, and knew Akira was coming down. He pulled off his long white jacket, handing it to Naruto. Naruto pulled it on.

"Naruto?" Akira asked, and then looked left and right as he came to stand next to Sasuke. "Where is the foxy?"

"He walked away," Sasuke told him.

Akira looked over to Naruto for a moment, noticing Sasuke's 'undressed' state and likewise Naruto's. "Are you trading clothes?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Oh." Slowly Akira handed the very thick and heavy book he held in his arms to Sasuke, while he kept looking at Naruto. Naruto was fiddling a little bit with Sasuke's white shirt, because the sleeves where once again way too long. He started rolling them up.

The weight of the book was suddenly gone, and Akira turned his eyes to the book in his father's hands. "You found it?" Sasuke asked. Akira nodded.

Akira sat down, and pulled the book a little bit to him so he could find the correct page. Naruto leaned over to the book when Akira pointed to a picture. "It was a red fox; Vulpes Vulpes," he said happily. "It had black ears, and the tail had a white tip, just like Naruto's."

Naruto made a soft sound of uneasiness at the recognition, but Akira apparently saw no other connection between the fox and Naruto. "It had a white chest and its paws were black, like this one." He pointed again to the picture.

Sasuke was amazed Akira had remembered this much about 'the fox' even though he hadn't seen it for that long. He'd even noticed the white chest? "How very good of you," he told Akira, and Akira began twisting and turning, blushing red at the praise.

"I like animals." Then he pointed to the book again. "I couldn't read this, can you explain?"

Sasuke read the kanji that Akira still had trouble reading (much like Naruto). "The red fox has relatively short legs and a long body. The tail is longer than half its body, and the fox often uses it to cover its nuzzle when sleeping, especially in the cold. Their eye pupils are oval and have brownish red irises."

Naruto looked up to Sasuke as he told all this. Akira seemed very interested, still looking around as if he was looking for the fox.

"Their skulls are narrow and have a small braincase." Sasuke grinned at that. Naruto shoved him in the shoulder.

Naruto sighed and stood up, wanting to get dressed. In the meantime Sasuke kept reading what the book said. A shiver ran down Naruto's spine as he ascended the stairs. He liked it when Sasuke was reading. He, unnoticeably to himself, began purring.

Upstairs he opened the door of the closet, and glanced into the mirror. It almost looked like he was wearing a skirt that opened not on the sides, but the front and back. Suddenly he was glad Sasuke was so much taller than him. He looked at the small fan symbols on the bottom and upper arms.

One time someone had asked (Naruto thought it might have been Ino) if they weren't planning on getting married. Both Sasuke and Naruto had started laughing at her, and Naruto hadn't been unable to stay standing up straight, folded double from laughter. Ino had been insulted and quite angry at the reaction she had gotten.

They had never spoken about it to each other, but marrying seemed not like something they would like to do. Being a ninja had nothing to do with it, but they just, well... it was hard to explain, but Naruto only needed Sasuke, and that was enough. He didn't need to get married or a ring or some other symbol that would 'bond' them, because they already were in their hearts. They didn't need something to show that to the outside world.

However, Ino had been so angry she had started asking all kinds of questions, not understanding why they were laughing so hard. '_Don't you love each other?_', '_You think marrying is stupid?_', _'Is it beyond you men?_' and '_Would you think it stupid if anyone of us would marry?_' She had pointed to Kiba and Shikamaru as they were there as well.

No, they did not mind someone else marrying, and Naruto had no trouble with marriage in particular, not at all. It was just probably not something they would do.

Finally Shikamaru had been able to calm Ino down, even though she was still angry at Sasuke and Naruto for laughing, and she still wasn't quite satisfied with the answer.

Naruto's finger traced the red of the fan. Sasuke had once been very proud, and again possessive, of Naruto when Naruto had found one of Sasuke's old shirts and had pulled it on, fitting in it perfectly. Sasuke had worn it when he had just come back to Konoha, and Naruto fitted it nicely when he had just turned 22.

Naruto had just planned on teasing Sasuke, wearing his shirt with the big Uchiha fan on the back, but Sasuke hadn't been bothered by it in the slightest; Naruto had been (very) disappointed that he had not succeeded to tease the Uchiha. To his amazement, Sasuke had pulled him outside with him, and had started a walk around Konoha. Naruto had slowly turned bright red the further they walked. Sasuke's grin only becoming bigger at the stares and whispers they got.

Naruto still couldn't understand how Sasuke was always so closed off to the outside world, but sometimes could suddenly do things like this (Naruto was always involved, that was true).

Naruto shook his head, and pulled off the white jacket, starting to get dressed. As he pulled the sweater over his head he noticed how much his arm had actually grown. Soon the whole sleeve would be filled again. Naruto couldn't help but smile at that thought. He would finally be able to let two hands slide over Sasuke's body.

He shook in happiness and turned away from the closet, closing it; his tail happily swirling behind him.

-x-

Sasuke had gone to the meeting. Akira's friend Hikaru and his mother had come to pick him up. So Naruto was home alone.

He was sitting on the couch, lazily watching some television as he reached for his ramen. He placed it between his legs and started eating it.

He'd thought of going to his team, but Sasuke had told him he'd given them some training to do on their own, and Naruto knew if he showed up, Sasuke wouldn't go anymore. He would disappoint his team, which longed for some attention from the famous Uchiha.

Naruto smirked at the thought of a still and 'emotionless' Sasuke, who was almost frowning (not really emotionless, but in a Sasuke-way) in front of his cheering and enthusiastic students. He thought it funny how they treated Sasuke almost like a god, while he tried hard to ignore them. (They weren't the only ones doing so). Naruto didn't know what they had been taught about the Uchiha at the academy, but the other genin teams were more or less the same. Sometimes they ran into one of the other teams when doing some D-rank missions.

Sasuke acted like he didn't like the way they praised him. Naruto thought that he _really_ didn't like it, thinking it to be unnecessary, but Naruto liked it so he wasn't planning on telling his team to do otherwise. He smiled.

Suddenly his eyes widened, and a grin spread over his face as he remembered something.

"I can try _that_ now. Perhaps with this happening, I can..."

He quickly inhaled his delicious ramen, and went into the garden.

-x-

Akira stood in front of his father's and Naruto's bed. It was the middle of the night. He just stared at the forms lying in the bed. Sasuke was lying on his back with his head to the right, facing Naruto. Naruto was lying on his left side facing Sasuke.

Akira woke up more often in the middle of the night. He didn't always like lying in his small -but in the eyes of a 5 year old huge- dark and lonely room. Not that he was afraid of the dark, why would he be afraid of that? Ninja's weren't afraid of the dark, just... cautious. Yes, he was cautious, but certainly not afraid, no. Not even a little.

Perhaps just a tiny bit then...

Luckily he had a good friend, Light-san, who just happened to be a night lamp, and was happy to light up a path in the small hallway for him.

And so, when Akira woke up at night, he would sneak into his father's bedroom, and look at the two sleeping persons for a while. They never lay on the same side of the bed, they changed from time to time, and sometimes even during the night. Because sometimes Akira had seen them sleep in the middle of the night, and the next morning when he woke them up they had changed positions.

Sometimes they lay like this, beside each other, but other times they lay on top of each other or hugging. Akira had very much liked to get in bed with them, but his father had made clear at the very beginning that he didn't like Akira sleeping in their bed every night, and he still didn't.

But Akira missed the warmth of someone lying beside him, and hugging _him_ in bed. When his mother had still been alive they had always slept together in one bed. He really missed her, and he thought that was the reason he sometimes woke up in the middle of the night. It was also the reason he came into this room.

He had been really happy when his mother had finally told him about his father, even though it had been just a little bit. She had never spoken about him before, always waving the topic off. However, when they had started travelling, Akira had asked why they weren't staying 'home' anymore.

"_We are going to find your otou-san," she had said. She always said 'your' otou-san, as if he would confuse him for her father or something. Akira had never understood that. Only when they had found his father she had left the 'your' away._

"_Why? Where is he?"_

"_I'm not sure where he is, that's why we are travelling around." Akiharu looked down at her son. "You know I will not live for much longer, you need someone to take care of you."_

"_Why not Gyuu-san?" He was their neighbour back 'home'._

"_Because otou-san..." Akiharu frowned. "He deserves it." She didn't sound very happy when she said it, as if thinking of an unpleasant memory. "He needs to know about you."_

"_He doesn't?"_

"_No."_

_Akira fiddled with the stone in his hand he'd just found; it was navy blue. "Who is otou-san?" he asked, finally daring to ask the question his mother never answered._

"_Uchiha."_

"_Uchiha?" Akira couldn't imagine a person with that name. "Uchiha who?"_

_Akiharu didn't answer that for a very long time. She coughed a couple of times, and pushed him forward so he wouldn't stop walking._

"_He's an arrogant, stuck up-" she suddenly stopped._

_Akira looked up to his mother as she pushed a lock of long black hair out of her eyes. "Who is?" He had long thought their previous conversation had ended. His mother had already told him more about his father than she ever had._

"_No one." Akiharu thought better than to tell her son how much she hated his father. He was supposed to live with him when she was gone; she shouldn't say bad things about him._

"_You actually look a lot like him," she said._

"_Like who?"_

"_Otou-san."_

"_I do?" Akira smiled, but his smile disappeared at the look on his mother's face. "You don't like that?" he asked sadly._

"_Why shouldn't I?" She smiled, but Akira knew his mother better than that._

"_Kaa-chan?" Akira looked down at the stone in his hand again. His mother hadn't been able to see the bird it represented. _

"_Yes, sweetie?" _

"_Is otou-san nice?" He wanted to ask his mother so many questions, but he was afraid she wouldn't answer them._

"_Of course he will be." _

_Akira tilted his head at the way his mother had answered him. He stopped walking, and his mother looked back at him with the same eyes he had. "You don't like otou-san?" he asked sadly, and he couldn't help the tears forming in his eyes._

_Akiharu looked down at him, unsure how to answer that question. She indeed didn't like Sasuke, but he was the father of her child. She loved Akira with all her heart, he was the only reason she was doing this, looking for Sasuke. It wasn't Sasuke that deserved the chance to meet his son, like she had just told Akira. It was Akira who deserved to know his father. Akira had needed him for quite a while now, Akiharu had noticed so. She thought she could talk around it every time he asked about his father, and eventually Akira had stopped asking._

_However, even though he hadn't asked any questions anymore, Akiharu could see he wanted to know; especially when the son of the neighbour had asked him why he didn't have a father, and perhaps that he didn't love Akira._

_Akiharu decided to tell Akira something else about his father instead of telling him how she felt about him. "Otou-san's name is Uchiha Sasuke."_

_Akira looked up as a tear rolled down his face. "Uchiha Sasuke," he repeated. He still couldn't imagine a person along with that name, even though his mother had told him he looked like his father. "Does he like fans?"_

_His mother started laughing suddenly, but ended up with coughing. "Yes, I think he does," she said between two coughs. Akira had stopped crying when his mother had started laughing. He had no idea why she had done that. It wasn't such a strange question, now was it?_

_It started raining, and they had to take shelter in a small barn from a kind farmer. Akira had been too joyful and distracted by the animals to ask more about his father._

A couple of months later she had told him his father was a ninja, or had been a ninja (she didn't tell him why he might not be one anymore), and how much she detested ninja's. Akira had figured out that was the reason she hadn't liked his father; she didn't liked him being a ninja.

However, not that long ago Sasuke had explained to him what ninja's were like, and Akira had come to the conclusion his mother had been wrong.

Naruto began snoring softly, and Akira looked out of the window. The curtains weren't closed, and he could see the garden. His own room was on the other side of the house with a window looking out over the street.

Naruto moved around in bed again. Naruto was almost never lying still, and Sasuke almost never moved.

Akira walked around the bed to take a look at his father. His mother had said he looked a lot like his father, but Akira had still been a bit surprised how much when he'd first seen him. First he hadn't liked it, because he was afraid his mother wouldn't like it how much they looked alike, but his mother had never said anything about it. Living together with his father for half a year had changed all the words his mother had spoken about his father.

In the village of Konoha people looked up to his father, and spoke to him with respect. He wasn't a stupid ninja at all, like he had imagined him. He was almost famous, Akira would say. When he was out with Naruto, Akira had heard people speak about his father, saying how great a ninja he was or how much he had helped them, or even how cute he was.

And so Akira had slowly become very proud of his father, and wanted to be like him. He had never had a father, and had always wanted to have one. When his mother had told him about where they had been going, Akira had been really happy, and even happier when she had told him she wanted to take him to his father; he would finally meet his father.

He had been nervous too, but his happiness was so great that he had even asked his mother if it was okay for him to give his bird stone to his father; she had agreed to it. The stone was very special Akira thought, it reminded him of the happiness he had felt when his mother had told him about his father, who he was. And then his father had said he saw the bird shaped in the stone too!

He reached up to touch his father's face, but Naruto started moving and mumbling. Akira hastily went back to the end of the bed, and crouched down, hoping they wouldn't notice him there. They had never seen him before, but he wasn't sure what they would say if they saw him. His father would probably tell him to get back to bed.

Hikaru had told him that he had been sleeping alone for a very long time, as far as he could remember. And Naruto had told him he was a big boy, and should sleep in his own bed. He knew they were right, but he still felt lonely.

Naruto stopped turning, but not before his three quarter arm fell on Sasuke's face. Thud.

"Aooh!" Sasuke opened his eyes.

"Itai." Naruto retracted his arm, and held it against his chest. "Your head is hard, teme."

Sasuke sat up, rubbing his nose. "I told you to lay still, dobe."

"All too often, but I keep telling you that I can't help it. I just can't lay still, teme." He sat up as well, and looked at his arm. He had hit Sasuke with the growing and most painful part.

They woke up more often like this, Naruto hitting or stomping Sasuke (by accident) in his sleep, and they always said the same things to each other.

Akira sat listening at the end of the bed, hoping they wouldn't notice him.

Sasuke sighed and lay back, pulling Naruto with him. "Things were going better when you had only one arm," he mumbled.

"Ha, just because I had an arm less to hit you with?" Naruto pulled the blanket back up, and rolled over to his right side.

Everything became quiet once more. It didn't take long before Naruto started snoring again. Akira deemed it safe enough, and slowly brought his head up so he could peer over the bed. They lay back to back now. Slowly Akira rose to his full length, and slowly walked out of the room. He should go back to sleep as well.

Sasuke opened his eyes as he heard Akira close the door a little and walk into the hallway. The corners of his mouth went up a little before he closed his eyes again.

* * *

><p>His arm was in the way. He had done quite a while without it, and had come used to the fact that he could lay on his left side without the arm. He shifted his still unfinished arm up to his head, and then felt Sasuke shift beside him, turning his back to Naruto.<p>

Naruto opened his eyes, and was surprised to see the sun was already rising. He hadn't shown Sasuke yet what he'd been doing the other day. Now was the perfect time.

Naruto brought his hand up to Sasuke's bare back, and started tracing invisible lines.

Naruto always thought it was a bit of a contradiction that Sasuke was always cold (or at least pretended to be... a lot) while liked sleeping without a shirt on. Naruto preferred sleeping in a shirt, most of the time.

Sasuke brought his shoulders up at the soft touch of Naruto's fingers on his back. "Hm."

Naruto grinned; Sasuke was awake enough to notice. He pulled his other arm up in front of his face, and concentrated chakra around it. It bubbled for a moment, and then took the shape of a hand. Slowly fingers sprouted, until finally they all had fingertips.

Carefully Naruto placed the newly formed chakra hand beside his real hand, and continued touching Sasuke's back, moving his 'hands' away from each other.

"Hm," Sasuke moaned again.

It took a couple of minutes before Sasuke realised. He suddenly froze, and turned around quickly, almost rolling over Naruto in his haste.

"How-?" He looked down to Naruto's hands. One was normal and the other was... orange? "How did you-?"

Naruto started laughing at the surprised look on Sasuke's face. "I had been training to form a chakra limb; was planning to go for an entire arm, but a hand was as far as I could come." Naruto laid the chakra hand on Sasuke's cheek. "And then my arm started to grow, I tried again, but it wasn't working, it hurt to form the chakra around the wound. And then the other day, when _that_ happened," he referred to the fox changing, "I somehow can do it without it hurting too much." Sasuke gave him a slightly concerned look. "It only stings a little. I guess now that the arm is almost complete, forming the last part with chakra isn't that hard anymore." Naruto made the chakra hand stroke Sasuke's hair, and then gripped it in his hand, pulling it.

"Itai, what are you-" again Sasuke didn't finish his sentence. "It's not just a shape but you can really touch and grip things with it." Naruto nodded, letting Sasuke's hair go.

"You like it?" Naruto grinned mischievously.

"A lot." Sasuke's hand entangled with Naruto's orange hand.

"But I'm not convinced yet."

"About what?" Naruto asked confused.

"How long can you keep it up? What else can it do? How well can you control it?"

Naruto stared back, moving the chakra fingers, fiddling with Sasuke's. "Not sure," he told Sasuke.

"It's time we found out then." Sasuke moved his other arm to grasp Naruto's shirt, and almost yanked him closer.

"Oh, like this," Naruto said understandingly.

"What other way." Sasuke started kissing Naruto's neck.

"Well, I thought you meant-" Sasuke shut Naruto up by kissing him on his mouth. He moved his hand up to cup Naruto's face, softly stroking the whiskered cheeks.

"Show me," he demanded, pulling off Naruto's shirt before proceeding the kissing.

Naruto pulled back his tongue out of Sasuke's mouth, and moved to sit up. "Okay, where to start?" He looked Sasuke over, slowly letting his eyes slide over the handsome features of his boyfriend. "I think…" He tried to take in every detail, but knew he wouldn't be able to.

Sasuke looked up, trying to get Naruto to look at him, showing him he was taking too long to decide.

"Yes, I'll start here," Naruto said, and leant down to Sasuke's chest.

"Hn?" Sasuke looked down; trying to follow what Naruto was planning to do. He felt a soft tongue slide past his collarbone and smiled. "Ah!"

While Naruto's tongue was still on the bone, his hand was moving over a nipple, not too gently.

"Oops, sorry." Naruto moved his head away, but Sasuke pressed it back.

"You need some practice, finding out how to be careful," Sasuke warned him.

In apology Naruto moved lower, and let his hands rest on Sasuke's ribs. He kissed the freshly abused flesh.

Sasuke's right hand moved down until it found Naruto's new hand, and tangled fingers with it again. He squeezed it a little, Naruto nearly crushed his hand. However, the small laugh that sounded from below told him Naruto was teasing him.

The orange fingers slowly loosened, and tried to move swiftly between the real ones. This continued for a while until Sasuke found Naruto was ready. He moved both hands down, below the sheets, to their groins.

Naruto moved up, away from Sasuke. "Wait, something is wrong."

Sasuke looked up questioningly. "What do you mean?" He narrowed his eyes, not amused by the interruption.

Naruto grinned before he lay down beside Sasuke. He moved his good arm under Sasuke, and then pulled him on top. "That's better," he smiled.

Sasuke immediately took this opportunity to press his lips against the side of Naruto's head, stroking past his ear, tickling. In the meantime he moved the joined hands over Naruto's boxers, up and down.

Naruto pulled up his leg, but Sasuke didn't give him much room to move around. His other hand was resting on Sasuke's waist.

Finally Sasuke stopped moving their hands, let go for a moment, only to join the chakra hand once more, and move it down Naruto's boxers.

"Nuh," Naruto struggled a bit, but Sasuke blew into his ear before he stuck his tongue out, causing Naruto to melt underneath him like butter.

"You need practice first," Sasuke told him, panting in his ear. Naruto couldn't even answer him, he just felt too good.

He let Sasuke's hand guide him, following all the instructions it told him to do.

"Ah."

By now all Sasuke wanted to do was look at Naruto's flustered face. Seeing every change his face made at all the right moments.

Finally he let go of the new hand, and moved his hand out of the underwear, up to Naruto's chest. "I think you're ready," he whispered into Naruto's other ear, starting to suck on it.

"If you… say so," Naruto managed to say. He pressed Sasuke's slightly cooler body against his own.

That what Sasuke was doing to his ear, their cheeks rubbing against each other, their bodies doing even more so, it didn't make Naruto's thinking more clear, but he knew what was expected of him.

He moved both hands to either side of Sasuke's waist, and in one quick motion pulled down his shorts. Sasuke nearly chewed off Naruto's ear. A well, he had three more.

Another quick motion -or so he had intended- brought down his own, which was soon joining Sasuke's underwear on the floor.

Naruto moved his legs up. "Are you sure?" he asked teasingly. The answer was a tongue in his mouth.

-x-

Naruto shuffled closer, looking around. "Wow, they fixed this place very well."

Sasuke mumbled something not understandable.

"I'm glad I didn't need to fix it. This would have taken my team days to make it look like this again. I kind of had forgotten what a mess we'd made. I can't believe all Tsunade-sama did was warn us. We got off so easily. Maybe we should find out how far we can take this." Naruto grinned mischievously before he turned to Sasuke. "I know just the thing. Listen, Sasuke-"

"Naruto," Sasuke said.

"Yes?"

"Shut up." Naruto blinked a couple of times. "Less talking, a little more action."

"Oh."

"Show me what you can do with that new hand of yours." Sasuke grinned, looking at Naruto.

Naruto saw the look in Sasuke's eyes; it was just like before they- Naruto's face suddenly fell, having processed the words. "What? H-here? Right now?"

"Of course, why else do you think I took you here?"

"But… everyone could see us here… Sasuke, I don't know." Naruto blushed. "Wasn't this morning enough?"

Sasuke frowned. "What are you talking about?"

Naruto turned a deeper shade of red. "You know." He shuffled closer to Sasuke. "I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that-" Naruto stopped talking, looking around. "Here," he added.

Silence.

"Dobe."

"Hè?"

"You are so stupid sometimes," Sasuke told him. Naruto looked angry, but then saw a smiling Sasuke look back at him. This surprised him. "This is a training field. If I ask you to show me what you can do, I mean in a fight."

Silence once more, leaves rustling on the background; until…

"Oh," Naruto finally said understandingly. "Oh, I thought… Well this morning you said… and back then I thought… so now I thought you meant…" Naruto mumbled.

Sasuke started laughing. "You really are stupid."

Naruto pursed his lips, looking angry. "Teme."

Sasuke embraced Naruto. "But I love you nonetheless."

"Hmpf." Naruto turned red again, a combination of being embarrassed and angry, which made Sasuke's smile only bigger.

Sasuke kept Naruto close for a bit longer before he let go. "Come on, show me in a fight," he grinned. Naruto wondered if Sasuke had meant to end his sentence there or had wanted to say more, but he would soon find out his mistake… about the meaning behind those words.

"I'll kick your sorry ass." Naruto pushed Sasuke away, and walked to the middle of the field. "First warming-up?" he asked, turning around to face Sasuke.

"Sure." Sasuke got a few shuuriken in his hands, looked them over before he put them back again. "Ready?" he asked, but also didn't, because he immediately attacked.

Naruto knew Sasuke's training routine, so before Sasuke had even finished saying the word, he already had a kunai ready.

Sasuke was excellent in the art of using shuuriken and kunai. All Naruto could really do was deflect them or avoid them as best as he could. He had no time to throw anything back.

The raven kept his distance. Naruto saw no opportunity to fight back or come closer. So when Sasuke suddenly appeared in front of him, Naruto was very surprised. Only out of instinct he ducked away, but not fast enough to avoid Sasuke from cutting his shirt.

Sasuke swung a few kunai at Naruto, but the blond made sure to block them. He didn't intend to let this opportunity of Sasuke being so close in range pass.

He was aware of the fact that Sasuke expected him to do something. So instead of going for an obvious frontal attack, like he would have done normally, Naruto went for Sasuke's feet.

He'd been right to think he could surprise Sasuke this way. Sasuke tried to jump away, but Naruto caught his foot before he could.

Sasuke made some strange motions to find his balance, and Naruto couldn't help but laugh, holding Sasuke's foot up higher.

For a moment they stood just like this, Sasuke giving Naruto the look and Naruto laughing, before Sasuke decided he wanted his foot back.

He forcibly pulled his leg back, and since Naruto was still laughing he nearly fell forward, but held on to the shoe.

When Naruto straightened up again, all he had in his hands was an empty sandal; plus a frowning Sasuke on a safe distance.

Naruto let the shoe drop to the ground. "That's one," he smiled.

Sasuke grinned. "Come and get the other one then," he dared.

That probably hadn't been the smartest thing to say to Naruto. Within a blink of the eye the blond was crouching in front of him. Sasuke quickly took out his katana.

Katana on his throat, Naruto had his hands resting on Sasuke's last sandal.

"You think I wouldn't notice?" Sasuke moved his katana, leaving a slashed throat behind.

Blood splattered around, but Sasuke didn't even look at it. Naruto fell down to the ground, a puddle of blood forming around him, but still Sasuke didn't so much as blink. His eyes were scanning the grounds around him.

Gurgling noises came from below. A hand slowly reached up to Sasuke's leg. It was shaking, dropping down and then coming up, slowly coming closer. A few more centimetres.

"Blgh…Sa-" Naruto's fingers were just a millimetre away from the dark fabric of Sasuke's pants.

And then Sasuke was gone, instead another Naruto was coming down with an outstretched hand. In this hand, the orange hand, he was holding an enormous Rasengan, and slammed it into the ground.

"Damn." The bleeding clone on the ground was caught in the orange swirl of chakra.

"Took you long enough to form that Rasengan," came Sasuke's voice from some bushes.

"It wasn't easy making it with this hand. I had to try at least five times before it actually took shape."

"Seven," Sasuke told him, holding his katana beside him as he stepped out of the bushes.

"I knew you would correct me." Sasuke smirked. "But it seems like you weren't able to completely escape my attack after all, even though you knew I was coming."

Sasuke looked down, noticing the rips on the side of his shirt.

"How-?" He looked up.

Naruto smiled and shrugged. "I told you before to become faster. You think you can see all my movements, but are not able to be as fast too. Well, sorry Sasuke, but you're wrong."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Really now? Are you sure you are not trying to make me believe a lie?" He said the words, but he couldn't help but think back of the moment he jumped away, trying to find out when Naruto had cut him.

"We'll find out soon enough."

Naruto disappeared from view, and so did Sasuke. Clashing sounds could be heard, and every now and then some blood splattered around out of nowhere.

As sudden as this had started, as sudden it ended again after some time.

Naruto and Sasuke were both panting. Naruto was holding his side, where a long cut was visible. Sasuke had sometime lost his katana, and was holding his arm where blood tickled down. He was missing half his shirt.

"Missing something?" Naruto asked, grinning.

-o-o-o-

Kiba looked down to little Akane and Akira as they played around on the playground. "Well, don't tell me again that I never visit you."

Kurenai smiled. "Then maybe next time you should come straight to the playground instead of my house, Kiba."

Kiba grinned. "I might. Come Akamaru!"

Akamaru stayed standing with the two children sitting on top of him.

"Come," Kiba called again.

"Please, Kiba-san!" Akane called.

"Can he stay a bit longer?" Akira finished.

The dog tilted his head, as if saying he was agreeing with the kids, which he was.

Kiba looked the dog over as two pairs of hands held onto the white fur, trying not to fall off.

"We will bring him-" Akira started.

"-home to you later!" Akane finished his sentence.

"We promise!" they said together.

Kiba blinked. "Okay then. Bye."

He turned around and walked off.

What should he do now? He was supposed to go to the Hokage for a new mission, but with his dog. He couldn't come to her without Akamaru, and then have to get the dog away from the two small kids. He hated admitting it, but he was kind of a softy when it came to children. They could be so clingy and annoying, but still there was this look in their eyes… like they could get anything done.

He grumbled. The worst part was that one of those children was from Sasuke… and even looked like him… and could do the same thing to him as Akane, sweet little Akane, could do to him.

He was so deep in thought that he didn't even saw someone walking straight at him, and bumping into him.

Papers flew around, slowly falling to the ground.

"Oh, sorry," Kiba muttered, looking up to see who he had bumped into.

"It's okay, Kiba."

"Iruka-sensei."

Iruka smiled. Kiba helped him pick up the fallen papers. He looked at one. "I hate tests," he muttered, giving the stack of papers to his sensei.

"I was wondering," Iruka said, making Kiba look at him, "if you had seen Naruto around."

"Not really."

"Oh, I was just planning to make a visit, but he wasn't home."

"He's not on a mission, Akira told me."

"Oh." Iruka stood up, as did Kiba. "Well, I'll look around some more. It's strange that he isn't at Ichiraku-" he mumbled, walking away.

Kiba sighed. "Alright, I'll help you."

Iruka turned around. "That's kind of you, Kiba."

"Only because I got nothing better to do." Kiba shook his head before he walked over to Iruka's side. "Let's go to his house, I'll follow his trail from there."

-x-

Kiba and Iruka stood staring at the woman in front of them. "Are you sure?"

"Why would I lie? Have you ever heard me lie before?" she asked innocently.

"Yes, many times," Kiba muttered.

"I heard that," Anko said, looking angry.

"You saw they were holding hands?" Iruka asked again, to be sure.

"I did, Iruka. I think you are getting old, or those kids are making you deaf."

"But how?"

"I told you I wasn't really able to see it." Anko put her hands on her sides.

"But-"

"Yes, Iruka-sensei, we all know he only got one hand," Kiba told Iruka.

"Then how could he have been holding hands with the arm that has none?" Iruka asked.

Two pairs of eyes stared back at him. Anko shrugged. "Don't know."

"Anko-" Iruka started.

"Let's just find them, and we'll see, okay?" Kiba turned away and walked on, followed by Anko pulling Iruka along. "They are close."

"Probably on the training field they destroyed last time. Did you see the blast that came from that attack? You know we live at the other side of town, and even from there-"

"Yes, I saw it too. Made my students panic. I had quite a hard time calming them down."

"I see."

The three of them walked onto the training field only to find-

"Oh my," Iruka said.

"Ah, no. That's gross." Kiba turned away.

"Finally! About time they made out on a trai-"

"Anko, don't!" Kiba warned, not looking around.

Iruka actually smiled along with Anko.

Naruto was pinning Sasuke to a tree, both having a lot of cuts and bruises around their bodies. Sasuke was not wearing a lot of clothes anymore. Pieces of clothing could be found all over the place, cut down from what once had been a shirt and a pair of pants, judging by the fabric.

One of Sasuke's hands was in Naruto's hair, the other lay on Naruto's bare back. Naruto had both his hands resting on either side of Sasuke's face. He was standing on his toes to be able to reach up to Sasuke.

"Why do they keep kissing while they know we are here?" Anko wondered aloud.

"Ah, don't tell me any details!" Kiba covered his ears, trying to walk away.

Anko got him by his collar, and pulled him back beside her. "Little Kiba-kun can't watch," she teased.

"With reason." Kiba pressed his eyes shut.

"Really? What is it?" Anko asked interested.

Kiba stiffened up. "Y-you know…" he stuttered, unable to keep thoughts of a few months ago out of his head. "They are both-"

"You're jealous."

Kiba stiffened up.

"Haha! He is!"

"Am not!"

"You are!"

"Am not!" Kiba tried to get out of Anko's deathly grip, without success.

"You are, admit it!"

Iruka shook his head, looking back to Naruto and Sasuke. It was clear they were having fun, and that Naruto was enjoying it a lot; his tail kept swirling around. He tried to get a closer look on Naruto's left hand, before he thought this might not be the right time to find out. He smiled to himself.

Sasuke couldn't keep his mouth away from Naruto's, but he decided he needed to ask. "Are you okay with this?"

Naruto smiled, only getting his face away from Sasuke so he could talk, but not further than was necessary. "Why not, I'm having a good time."

Naruto went back to Sasuke's mouth, while gripping some hair in his hands.

Sasuke smiled into the kisses that followed. "True."

He moved his hand over Naruto's spine, smearing some blood over his back. The wounds where it had come from had already healed, and now Naruto was working on Sasuke's wounds, licking them, pouring some of his own chakra through Sasuke.

"Let's go," Iruka told the fighting pair beside him, took both their arms, and started walking away.

"No, wait, I want to see some more."

"Shut it, Anko! This is a training ground; they shouldn't be doing this here in the first place."

"Come on, Kiba-kun, it's not an unusual place." Anko grinned.

"Ew, no, I don't even want to think about what you just said."

"Kakashi and I-"

"DON'T!"

"Let's go," Iruka urged them once more, still pulling them off the field.

"I can't help it no one ever watches us, doesn't mean we can't watch them-"

"That's because no one wants to see you do that!" Kiba shouted back.

Finally they were gone, leaving the two on the field to themselves.

"Finally, thought Iruka-sensei would never get them out."

Sasuke smiled, playing with Naruto's tail. "Doesn't matter. As long as I'm with you, nothing else matters."

Naruto looked up into Sasuke's eyes, and smiled. "Same goes for me." He pulled his leg up over Sasuke's.

"You forgot a scratch," Sasuke told Naruto, moving Naruto's head to his neck.

"Where?" Naruto looked at Sasuke's neck before he realized that Sasuke wasn't serious. Slowly he let his tongue slide over the side of Sasuke's throat.

Sasuke shivered from pleasure. "Maybe you didn't misunderstand me this afternoon," he told Naruto, moving his hand up over Naruto's sides. He could feel Naruto's reaction, a sudden breath on his shoulder.

"You just didn't know what you were asking," Naruto muttered, tickling Sasuke's skin with his breath, before he proceeded his path of kisses and his licking.

Sasuke smiled, moving his legs, unable to stay still under Naruto. "I think you're right." His hands lowered down from Naruto's hips to his thighs.

"So, you already know… if you like it?" Naruto asked between licking Sasuke's chin and sucking on his ear. He moved his chakra hand over Sasuke's chest.

The raven moved his hands to the inside of Naruto's thighs, bucking his own hips up. "No, not sure yet."

* * *

><p>Naruto sat down next to Akira as he sat on the porch, petting Kou carefully.<p>

"So I heard from Sasuke you're going to the Academy next school year." Naruto had of course known this for a long time now.

"I am!" Akira told him proudly, puffing up his chest. "And tou-chan said I might be able to go sooner; already a few days in the week in January!"

"That great, and coming soon, isn't it?"

Akira nodded. "It is! I can't wait!" Kou was moving over to Akira's arm to get a little out of reach of Akira's loud enthusiastic voice.

"You know what Akira-kun?" Naruto waited for Akira to look up. "I've noticed you've been training Kou-chan very well, so I would like to help you with something else now." Naruto grinned.

Akira looked curious while Kou was slowly reaching a tiny handed-wing to Naruto, to try and suck his chakra. Naruto held out his finger to the small bat.

"What is it?" Akira asked with so much curiousness that Naruto almost didn't want to tell, just to see what he'd do; to tease him.

"Don't tell Sasuke," he whispered secretly.

"I won't, I promise," Akira said all too eagerly, and Naruto's grin became bigger.

"Okay, this is what we're going to do-"

-oXo-

A/N: I like cutting off scenes like this ^^ Hahaha!


	33. Chapter 33: The meeting

Ah, finally... Finally I wrote this chapter... ;)

Thank you all beta, readers and reviewers!

-oXo-

**Chapter 33: The meeting**

_22__nd__ of December_

He was actually a little bit nervous, which he hadn't expected. Nervous was not really a word that he knew, not in this way. Nervous was something he had once been a lot, but had learned to overcome. Now… now his hands were shaking ever so slightly. Perhaps it was because of Sakura standing next to him, shaking too; although she was probably shaking because she was trying to contain her anger.

He wasn't afraid or anything, not at all, not of that man. He had never been afraid of him, never, not once. He wasn't nervous because he wasn't prepared or anything, something like that had never bothered him, he was almost never prepared.

Not even Tsunade -by now as red as beet from anger- could make him nervous with the words she was throwing at the blue haired man. No, that certainly didn't make him nervous, it was hilarious actually, the look on the man's face; priceless.

Shizune was either ashamed of Tsunade's behaviour or just tried to calm her down with different effects.

Kakashi was just his usual self, looking almost bored, though he had managed to make an expression with his single eye that told Naruto he was serious.

The Hunter across from him had brought his own set of ninja, sitting beside him, trying to look smug, but quite unable to.

This might be the reason why Naruto was slightly nervous. It was all because of Sasuke. Sasuke was sitting there like he was the king or something, like no one could actually even slightly interest him. The look on his face; at first sight it was normal, like he usually looked, but what was really happening was that Sasuke was intimidating the ninja's on the other side of the table. The Hunter's ninja were purposely avoiding getting in Sasuke's eyesight. Direct eye contact was absolutely out of the question.

Of course Naruto wasn't new to this kind of behaviour from Sasuke; he hadn't expected him to act any differently. If he hadn't been acting in this way, it would have actually worried Naruto.

So what _was_ making Naruto nervous (ever so slightly, he kept telling himself) about this situation?

…

Protectiveness and possessiveness

…

Yes, from Sasuke.

Sasuke's hand was resting on Naruto's only real hand, squeezing it every once in a while; as if he needed to comfort the blond, or to tell him he was still there. Naruto wasn't sure.

Besides that, Sasuke had shoved his chair against Naruto's. He was actually making Naruto wonder if he was trying to share his chair or just wanted to push him off, as pasted as he was against the blond.

His other hand rested on Naruto's waist; the king was very, very obviously protecting his queen… so to speak.

On one hand, Naruto didn't mind this behaviour, actually liking the attention. On the other hand, he felt like pushing Sasuke off of both chairs, and tell him to keep his hands away. Naruto could protect himself. He could handle this situation himself.

He didn't need Tsunade or his team to talk things out with the Hunter. This was just formality (and due to Tsunade's angry look directed at him when he had told her he could handle this alone).

He didn't need Sasuke to figuratively hold his hand (and so Sasuke knew, and thus had decided to do it literally). Everyone knew this, but no one cared. What had happened to Naruto had hurt them too (especially Sasuke). Add the whole thing with Akira…

The result: an overprotective and extremely possessive Sasuke.

Luckily only Kakashi had observed this. Tsunade and Sakura were too angry to notice, yelling at the other side of the table, cursing quite a bit. Shizune stood aside Tsunade, not sure to join them or hold the two sides apart.

All Kakashi had done was smile (Naruto could tell even without looking at his single visible eye).

The other side of the table was _way_ too scared to say either something insulting or anything at all, even if they had wanted to. Sasuke made sure no one other than the Hunter even tried to open their mouth.

Ika was the only one who dared to open his mouth and help his boss (he was ignoring Sasuke with all his willpower).

"You have no right!" the Hunter screamed across the table.

"I have every right! I will make it happen!" Tsunade shouted back. Naruto had been watching the two scream at each other for a while now, unable to even squeeze in a single word.

"You wanted a fair meeting, lady, keep to your own rules or I will leave right now!"

"Without your precious treasure?" Tsunade leaned forward, around her bosom rested the green necklace.

The Hunter narrowed his eyes. "You haven't really given any sign you will give it to me anyway… You do have it?" he asked suspiciously, eyeing her angrily.

Naruto felt Sasuke move beside him, and noticed him glance over to Tsunade for a second before resting his eyes back on the other ninja.

The necklace was not the treasure the Hunter was after.

This time Sakura was ready to answer. "You're willing to invade Konoha, and threaten us without being certain that we even have this _treasure_?" She almost spat the last word.

"The boy had it," was the short reply.

Naruto felt Sasuke squeeze his hand almost painfully.

Silence fell while everyone seemed to keep an eye on the other. The atmosphere was way too tense in Naruto's opinion. They were getting nowhere like this.

He sighed deeply, making everyone turn their eyes on him.

"Tsunade-sama," he said softly. He slowly and politely pushed Sasuke away, and stood up.

"Yes?" Tsunade was wondering what he was up to (just like the rest). Naruto could see her curiosity in her eyes.

"Give me the statue." Naruto held up his orange hand to Tsunade.

When he had said the word statue, the Hunter had twitched his pinkie ever so slightly.

Tsunade looked Naruto over. Sakura pushed herself back from the table, giving Tsunade the space to hand the statue to Naruto.

Tsunade waited for a few seconds, still watching Naruto closely. Naruto just waited until she was ready, giving her a serious look.

The Hokage's eyes narrowed before she looked over to Shizune. She nodded once, to which Shizune moved her hand into her robes. She took out a small, red and old statue, handing it to Tsunade.

Tsunade took it, keeping a close eye on the Treasure Hunter all the way as she turned to her right to face Naruto. Finally she handed him the statue.

Naruto held the small item in his hand. It felt heavier than he had anticipated. Even though he couldn't feel anything with his chakra hand, he could feel the weight in his wrist.

He took a look at it, turning it around in his hand, as if he was taxing it.

"Can't imagine someone would go this far for just this."

All the warning Naruto gave next, was a quick look into the Hunter's eyes before he threw the statue to him.

The blue-haired man obviously panicked when he realized what Naruto was doing to his precious item. Hastily he held out his hands to catch the ever so valuable statue.

"Ah!" He caught it, cradling it in his arms and pressing it against his chest like it was a baby.

Tsunade's eyes grew when she saw Naruto throw the object to the Hunter. She seemed like she was about to say something about it for a second, but she did not.

"I don't want an unnecessary war over this or anything else that has happened," Naruto spoke softly.

Sakura was very surprised by not only Naruto's words, but his voice too; it sounded so quiet and calm. He was very serious.

"Though I can't deny that an apology would be in place." He stared at the hunter intently.

The Hunter blinked, surprised, before returning to his angry look. He didn't say anything.

"Don't get me wrong," Naruto continued when no apology followed. "I really place a lot of value in such things as apologies."

The Hunter turned the statue in his hand, while his eyes still rested on the fox-boy in front of him.

"I apologize." He didn't say for what, and his voice certainly wasn't making it a convincing apology. Naruto didn't say anything about it.

"Boss," Ika started, not finishing his sentence.

"Yes, I know." The Hunter answered. He elegantly swiped some hair out of his face. "We are even now."

"Even?" Sakura asked. "Even? How?"

The Hunter eyed Sakura for a second before his eyes turned onto Naruto and his orange hand. Then he held the statue on eyelevel, so he could examine it. "Even though…" His finger went over the slightly damaged arm of the tiny samurai. Even though Naruto thought the entire thing was damaged, had lost corners and cracks, the Hunter seemed to disagree about the old statue.

Sakura stood up. "You want to say that abducting Naruto… torturing him…" Sakura was shaking from anger, unable to form complete sentences. "He lost an arm!" she shouted across the table. To emphasize her anger, she hit the table, hard. If it hadn't been massive wood the crack might have been bigger. She was clearly trying to keep herself in control.

The treasure Hunter eyed Naruto's left arm once more. "Not my fault," he simply said.

"What?" this time Sasuke stood up, his chair was clattering to the floor.

"If he hadn't escaped-" the Hunter started monotonously.

"You were hammering nails in his arms!" Sasuke was furious, Sharingan spinning in his eyes. The five ninja the Hunter had brought along all stepped back nervously.

Naruto held up his arm in front of Sasuke's chest. Sasuke slowly looked down to Naruto, looking upon his yellow spikes and black ears. Slowly Naruto met his eyes. Sasuke understood even before the blue orbs reached his own fading to black ones.

Naruto then took a step to Sakura, gripping her arm, and pulling it back from the table.

"I know you care for me, but please let me handle this."

Green looked a bit confused, but blue made her understand. Sakura took a step back. Tsunade had already been convinced to let the blond handle things, even though she wasn't completely agreeing with the method he used (but being impressed by his calm nature nonetheless). Kakashi had never needed to be convinced or held back from anything. He trusted Naruto completely.

"I think there is a small misunderstanding here," Naruto started, but the Hunter wouldn't let him finish his sentence.

"Not at all. I know where we are standing, but I'll let the false accusations pass and let it be."

Sakura twitched her hand, but didn't do anything.

Naruto smiled. "Well that would be fine, apart from-"

"Stop accusing me," the Hunter told Naruto, "I-"

"Listen!" Naruto shouted to the Hunter, effectively silencing him. "I don't know what you are thinking about all of this? That you would have a little chit-chat with the Hokage, get that statue of yours and leave?" Naruto paused for a moment, seeing the Hunter stare at him.

"I-" the Hunter nearly stuttered.

"I would have liked it to be like that," Naruto said, surprising everyone. "I would have liked you to take this seriously. I really did, but you are not even trying to act like you are serious about all of this. From the moment we sat down, you've done nothing but look uninterested and trying to shove everything away from you." Naruto spoke angrily.

"Now listen to me, boy, you clearly-"

"I wasn't finished!" Naruto spoke calmly, and very clearly. He waited until the Hunter closed his mouth. "I don't care if you think what you did was right, or that you can't see the trouble you've caused. I can't really expect you to." Naruto stared directly in the eyes of the Hunter.

It was as if the blue in Naruto's eyes was on fire, the Hunter thought, even though there was no red in them at all. It was not the same as when he had been hanging to the wall, being taken over by the Kyuubi inside him.

"But that you do not even show the respect to the Hokage… to me…" Naruto closed his eyes.

"Why should I-?"

The Hunter suddenly stopped talking when he saw Naruto holding the statue he had been holding not even a nanosecond ago. "How did you-?" He didn't even had the time to process this and sound angry; he was still too confused.

"You still don't take me seriously… or take this conversation seriously, do you?" Naruto asked, spreading his hands to the table.

"Give me-" The blue-haired man's eyes widened again. The statue had just disappeared again; in front of his very own eyes nonetheless! Naruto hadn't made a single movement, not even blinked, and the statue had disappeared out of his hands.

"Genjutsu," he whispered, looking back to his ninja. "This is all fake?" He turned back to Naruto. "You are deceiving me!"

"Just because you can't follow my movements, doesn't mean I'm deceiving you."

"Ha!" The Hunter looked back to one of his ninja, a brown-haired one. "Did he?" he asked softly. The man shook his head. "The Sharingan!" He then accused Sasuke, who looked angry, but had black eyes.

"Wouldn't waste it on you," Sasuke answered monotonously. The Hunter narrowed his eyes.

"This is no Genjutsu, boss," the brow haired ninja told him.

"Then…" His eyes fell back on Naruto.

"Now do you take this seriously?" Naruto asked.

The Hunter looked over to the other Konoha ninja, considering them all before his eyes rested on Shizune.

"I wouldn't even think of attacking, if I were you. I can assure you 3 things." Naruto held up three orange fingers. "One, they don't know where it is; they didn't see me take it away either." Naruto gestured to his own side of the table.

"Two, you will not win the fight anyway." He held up two fingers.

The Hunter was about to say something about this, but Naruto went on.

"And three, I will not be as nice as I've been until now any longer. You might think I didn't really say anything worth listening to until now, because I've been so forgiving, or just stupid." Ika glanced to the Hunter. "But you really hurt me and my friends. I would sure like it for you to give me a reason to fight you right now."

The Hunter stared back angrily.

"He already gave you plenty of reasons, Naruto," Sakura whispered, though with the silence in the room everyone could hear it.

Sasuke smirked. "Please, Naruto," he said softly, almost pleading. Naruto smiled.

"You think you can intimidate me?"

"I'm sorry if I made you think I was trying to intimidate you, I wasn't." Naruto smirked foxily. "Now, shall we continue this conversation? With respect and politeness to both sides?" Naruto asked.

_No, no, no… say no._ Sasuke was hoping the Hunter would decline.

"I-" The Hunter looked around the table, seeing the crack in there, Sakura angrily staring at him, Tsunade and Kakashi looking calmly, Sasuke like he was having malicious thoughts, and finally Naruto, still having that foxy grin on his face.

"Look at you," the Hunter calmly started. "You are accusing me of not taking things serious, while you are the one taking away my statue… again. You want me to show you respect, while obviously your thoughts about morals is so twisted? You want me to be polite? While your Hokage is yelling at me?" The Hunter shook some hair out of his face, and started fiddling with a particular big ruby on one of his golden rings. "I tried to teach you some respect when you were staying over at my home, but I can see it didn't work after all. Not that I had expected much else from a demo-"

Sasuke was on top of the Hunter before anyone could blink. He had jumped over the table, and had grabbed the man around his neck. Lying on the floor on his back, the Hunter looked up. "What do you think you're doing? First telling me how to show respect, and then you attack me?"

Sasuke wanted to snort, but of course he didn't.

"Get off of me!" the Hunter said annoyed.

Sasuke didn't move. The air was tense.

"What are you waiting for?" The Hunter looked over to Naruto as he asked this.

"Yes, what _are_ you waiting for, Sasuke?" Naruto asked, looking down to Sasuke. Sasuke looked up to Naruto. All he could do was smirk when he saw the blond's face.

"I love you, Naruto," he said, before looking back to the Hunter.

"I know; just leave something that can still breathe," Naruto added. The Hunter looked up confused.

"Hn."

"No wait!" the Hunter screamed.

Immediately the five other ninja jumped into action, Ika in front. "Boss!" He headed to Sasuke with a spear in his hand he had just summoned.

Three ninja made quick hand signs. At once a metal door closed off the only entrance, metal bars moved through the cave, over the ceiling and on the floor like snakes. Quickly they closed off half the room, caging it, and separating Sasuke and Naruto from the others.

"Damn!" Sakura shouted, "I wanted to be on that side too." She hit the metal bars hard, but they didn't dent or anything.

The fourth ninja walked over to the rock wall on his side, and put his hand against it. Slowly the cave wall began to melt, or so it seemed.

"You were prepared," Naruto stated. "So this was not a neutral place after all." Naruto looked down to Sasuke, who was still trying to struggle the Hunter, but he slowly let go when a spear was pressed to his throat.

He looked down to the sharp object pointing at his flesh. "Really?" he muttered.

"Get off him," Ika demanded.

Sasuke began smirking. "You want to make things more interesting?" He slowly let go off the Hunter's throat. Immediately the Hunter took some deep breaths. Then he stood up.

"Sasuke, come on, don't play with your food." Naruto grinned.

"You're one to talk."

"I meant figuratively," Naruto muttered.

"Me too," Sasuke eyed Naruto, raising his eyebrows and smiled naughtily. Instantly Naruto turned red.

"Sasuke!" he whispered urgently. "Not here. This is a serious situation."

"I'm serious, can't you tell?"

Ika didn't really know how to act, and almost let the spear drop from Sasuke's throat. Quickly he put it back again, pushing a bit too hard, drawing blood.

Sasuke grabbed the spear and moved it away from his throat. "Watch where you point that thing." He wiped off some droplets of blood.

"Eh…" Naruto stood there, his eyes squinted, a droplet of sweat dripping down his face.

"Where did you hide the statue?" the Hunter asked, stepping up to Naruto.

"Huh?" Naruto looked around to him. "Oh, somewhere in the forest." Naruto pointed to the wall of the cave, indicating the forest just outside.

"Where?" the Hunter repeated.

Naruto shrugged.

The Hunter turned to one of his men. "The chains," he said.

"Yes sir," a woman's voice came from the man's mouth. Naruto took a better look at the dark blond, short haired man.

"He is a woman?" he asked softly. Sasuke gave him a look, showing him he was stupid for thinking so. Naruto shrugged once more.

Luckily for Naruto no one else had heard him.

The woman took a step forward. She made some hand signs before she stopped and stood eerily still.

Naruto glanced over to Sasuke, but when he saw he looked like he was on his guard, Naruto knew she wasn't finished yet. It wasn't like the jutsu had failed; she was still working on it.

When she opened her eyes chains shot up from the floor, snaking their ways up around Sasuke and Naruto. It securely tightened around their bodies, their arms and legs, keeping them in place. Naruto wanted to struggle, but somehow didn't.

"Wise decision," the Hunter said. "Those chains will explode when you move too much. You see Erika over here, she's very good with changing 'normal' ground into something explosive," he smirked.

Naruto glared back at him.

Being back in control the Hunter raised his chin and took a step forward. "Now tell me, where did you hide my treasure?"

Naruto stared back. "I'm not sure about this…" Naruto slowly started, looking down to the ground. "But I think it might have been something like the 148th tree to the right, away from the 77th rock from the ground after the second corner-"

"Enough!" The Hunter yelled. "Stop mocking me."

Naruto looked up. "I wasn't. I just really haven't counted anything. I just hid it somewhere." He grinned stupidly. "My team keeps telling me to overthink my actions more carefully, but…" he shook his head, "I probably really am just an idiot for not being able to."

The Hunter grinded his teeth. "You are," he said hatefully.

"Boss," the ninja standing near the wall suddenly called.

The Hunter turned around, and looked over to the melted away wall, revealing a tunnel behind it. Then he nodded. "Very well."

He grinned as he turned his head back to Sasuke and Naruto. "I'll find my treasure on my own then. Goodbye." He waved while he walked to the door. His blue hair swaying behind him.

"Hahahaha!" Naruto started laughing loudly.

The Hunter turned back at the sudden sound he had not expected. "Be careful, you'll laugh yourself to death," the Hunter tried to joke around to hide his surprise.

"Eh, Naruto?" Sakura asked from the other side of the fence. "Are you alright?" She nervously eyed the chains around Naruto. It looked like they were starting to glow a soft red.

"Haha, yes... I'm fine, ha." Naruto turned to look at Sasuke, who was a couple of metres away from him. "You heard what he said?"

"Hn, of course."

"He thinks-" Naruto suddenly cut his own sentence short. "Really?" he asked Sasuke.

Sakura looked over to Sasuke, and saw the look he gave Naruto; except she didn't really knew what kind of look it was, or what it meant. It was actually quite a normal look, but it had definitely made Naruto stop talking.

She wasn't the only one confused; Tsunade and Shizune looked surprised, and the Hunter and his men stood looking from the blond to the raven like they were waiting for an explanation.

"You mean it?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke gave no response, or made any movement at all.

"Yay!"

"Yay?" Sakura asked.

"I could kiss you right now," Naruto still smiled.

This time Sasuke did respond. "What's stopping you?"

Naruto just kept smiling. "Nothing really." He moved his tail, and before Sakura could either warn him, or before the Hunter could laugh, the chains around Naruto turned red hot and exploded.

A giant explosion sounded. It actually sounded much bigger, much louder than it should have.

Tsunade, Shizune, Sakura and Kakashi quickly took cover behind the massive, cracked wooden table.

"That idiot," Sakura said, "This whole cave could come down and kill us!"

"Yes, we are sad too that Naruto exploded," Kakashi said dryly.

"Oh, come on sensei, you know as well as I do that-"

"Look out!" Tsunade laid her hand on top of Sakura's head, and pulled her down. A large bolder flew over their heads. "When do you think it's the right time to call upon an earth jutsu?" she asked Sakura and Kakashi.

The two immediately started making a lot of hand signs, creating an earth ceiling above them, protecting them.

"I can't believe he did that! It could take us days to get out of the ground! It's just like on that training field! They don't think, do they? They are such-" Sakura kept fuming, and accusing Sasuke and especially Naruto for what he had done. Her rant went on for quite a while. "Why can't he think things over first? How often haven't I told him? What if those ninja of the Hunter come to Konoha for revenge after this? Why-"

Kakashi laid his hand on Sakura's shoulder, trying to stop her rant. "I think _that_ is the answer to all your questions." He pointed to a place that once had been where Sasuke was standing.

Through the rubble and rocks upon rocks, Sakura expected to see a cave in, for a far as she could see, but instead she saw light.

"Daylight?" she asked aloud, very perplexed.

A giant arm of purple chakra moved through the air. In its hand it held a bow, which could also function as a shield.

"Susano'o?" Sakura fell from one surprise into another. "But that could never have made it all the way to the surface..."

"Probably not if it had only been Sasuke standing in it," Kakashi explained.

"You mean-?" Tsunade asked, trying to take a better look at the arm.

"Yes, they are in there together."

"That explains why the explosion sounded too loud."

"How is that possible?" Shizune asked, ignoring Tsunade's comment. She wasn't the only one wondering.

"I must say that I'm not quite sure yet," Kakashi answered.

Another arm appeared in the light, coming from the hole in the ceiling. It rested on the edge of said hole. Then a head slowly became visible, ducking. It was looking around, like it was searching. It looked like it was covered in rags, hiding its face from view.

When the dust cleared they could see it in fact looked like a mask of a bird was resting on the figure's head, a fierce red diamond shone on the forehead of the mask.

"It was never this big before," Sakura stated, "Not even when Naruto joined in."

The head was still looking away from them, careful not to hit its head. It was like its size made its movements seem slow, and all the more scarier.

Suddenly two shining and piercing eyes turned to their direction, looking through the opening of the mask's mouth; it was the only thing visible of the chakra man's face.

Unwillingly a shiver ran down Sakura's spine when the searching eyes turned to them.

The head bowed lower, and to Sakura's (and the others') surprise on top of the head were two fox ears sticking out of the turban. The slit red eyes, surrounded by the Sharingan stared at them.

"I can't move," Shizune slowly spoke. She sounded a bit scared.

"It is quite overwhelming," Tsunade agreed. The air seemed dry, low on oxygen. A vile, angry, but especially frightening air seemed to spread around instead.

"I must admit this feels like we're in a nightmare." Sakura shivered again, but she wasn't the only one.

"At least this explains why Naruto was so happy," Shizune said softly.

"Sasuke actually was quite excited too, now that I think of it," Sakura added. "They had probably wanted to try this out for a while now."

"But unable to do so. They couldn't really do this in or near Konoha," Kakashi added.

"If they had, I would have killed them," Tsunade said darkly. All the panic it would have caused inside the village.

She still remembered the previous time they had damaged -more like destroyed- the entire training field, making such an explosion (nearly killing Sakura and Kakashi) that her next day had only been filled with panicked villagers, and trying to calm them down. And it hadn't been the last time something like that had happened. Tsunade actually had to forbid them to do something on that level of fighting inside or near Konoha again. (She knew Naruto was just testing her, trying to find out how far he could take it).

However, Tsunade was glad she had told them to stop doing these kinds of things, as she was now witness of their next dual technique.

Slowly the head turned back, away from them.

-o-

"Naruto, you need to give me a little less chakra. You're overwhelming me," Sasuke panted.

"Sorry, it must be hard to control both our chakras, mix them together _and _control Susano'o with it." Naruto turned to Sasuke. "But you are the only person I know who would be able to do it all," he smiled.

Sasuke returned it. "Have you found him already?" he asked in return.

"No, but I have the feeling he is hiding somewhere over there." Naruto pointed in the opposite direction of where Sakura and the others were.

Sasuke followed the finger, and then together they started walking. Climbing up some rocks, then down a little, only to go up again.

Finally they arrived on top of the small rock hill. Susano'o was practically folded double.

"I think he's under here," Naruto said while sniffing the air.

"Oh, I hope you're right," Sasuke grinned.

"You know," Naruto suddenly said, turning to Sasuke. "I got the feeling you are enjoying this a _little_ too much."

Sasuke glanced to Naruto. They stayed looking at each other for a moment. "Not that I mind," Naruto smiled. He put his arm around Sasuke's waist, and leant against him.

Sasuke moved his hand a little to make Susano'o move. It started digging, throwing away the rocks that had fallen down.

"Can't you use an Earth jutsu?" Naruto asked, looking down into the tunnel that was forming.

"This is more fun," Sasuke stated.

"Really?" Naruto frowned.

"No, you're right, but right now it's not something I feel like wasting my chakra on."

"Oh, I can lend you some," Naruto smiled.

"You already do, that's why I like to keep it in control, you have…" Sasuke glanced down to Naruto, "quite the…"

"Evil chakra?"

"Hard to keep in check," Sasuke corrected.

"Oh. Yeah," Naruto smiled.

"Over there!" Naruto suddenly shouted. Sasuke had already noticed, but didn't even bother to block a couple of kunai as they bounced off the giant Chakra shape.

The kunai were immediately followed by three jutsus. Sasuke moved his arm, indicating for Susano'o to protect them with its shield. Next it tried to straighten as much as it could to aim an arrow in the direction of where the jutsus had come from.

"They are there now," Naruto pointed a little to the left of where Susano'o was pointing its arrow to.

A mud wall was called forward, effectively redirecting the arrow's path, but the wall didn't stop moving. It went straight for Naruto and Sasuke.

Unable to move away quickly, stuck in the small space, Susano'o took the hit. Sasuke and Naruto felt the hit, being pushed away a couple of metres, and then Susano'o followed both of their movements: he straightened up.

The ceiling seemed to be under a lot of pressure as Susano'o kept pushing. Rocks were falling down, it seemed like the cave was shaking.

Naruto saw the Hunter trying to stand up, swinging and then grasp onto Ika for support. Naruto couldn't help but grin before he saw the Hunter and his group disappear in a dome of mud. This was probably the same way they had protected themselves the last time.

Slowly the rocks stopped falling, dust was coming up all around, and Naruto couldn't help but cough.

"Maybe we shouldn't touch the roof anymore," he said between coughs, his eyes slightly watering from the dirt in the air around them.

"I agree," Sasuke said, looking up to the new daylight opening they had created.

"Watch it!"

Susano'o put up both hands to grab a giant summoned animal by the horns… or ears?

"What is that?" Naruto asked Sasuke, looking at the giant summon.

"I believe it's a jackalope," Sasuke said slowly.

"A what? Isn't it a giant rabbit with horns?" Naruto asked, still looking up to the animal to see what it was.

Sasuke looked down to Naruto. "In short… yes." It was better to leave it at that. "Almost ready?" he asked after a second or two.

"Yeah, yeah. When you give me the space."

Sasuke smirked. Susano'o pushed the rabbit to the side, making it trip over the rocks. Immediately Naruto put his hands in the air, so did the chakra man. Orange chakra seeped from Susano'o's body into its arms to its hands. An orange Rasengan with purple ribbons in it was being formed.

"What is taking so long?" Sasuke asked, eyeing the giant jackalope. It was getting up, reaching for its specially made katana.

"I actually have never done this before!" Naruto told him a tad annoyed.

Sasuke looked over to the mud dome, which had a hole in it. Maybe he should start on a fire jutsu.

Naruto finished the Rasengan just in time. Susano'o moved its arm back before striking the rabbit in the chest, while the katana of the animal just missed the chakra man.

At the same time some metal chains came flying to them, but were roasted by Sasuke.

"That's what I call teamwork," Naruto told him, looking at the woman (he still thought she looked like a man) who Sasuke had just burned. She was cursing quite a bit.

"Next," Sasuke almost whispered.

Naruto smiled. "You take the right, I'll take the left."

Sasuke smiled while Susano'o drew its bow back, ready to aim for the ninja coming closer to him.

"You don't think it will be that-" Naruto watched as Susano'o let go of the arrow, heading straight for the ninja coming for them. It went right through him, blood splattering around. "Easy…" Naruto slowly finished his sentence.

"No, even easier. Are you even paying attention to your guy?" Sasuke raised an elegant eyebrow.

"I do, don't worry, we don't all have opponents as easy as you have."

Still talking to Sasuke, the raven almost began to wonder if Naruto was sure he knew what he was doing. Knowing Naruto and all… Then he understood what the blond was about to do.

The two ninja approaching them from the right came closer, throwing letter bombs, kunai, jutsu and what not at them.

Still as calm as ever, protected by the giant figure around them, Naruto waved his tail. A giant chakra tail came from behind the Susano'o, sweeping away the aimed jutsu. This seemed not only to surprise the two attacking ninja, but the Konoha ninja as well.

-o-

"Could have known though," Sakura muttered, looking at the giant fox tail.

"Why aren't we joining them?" Shizune asked.

"They clearly want to do this on their own," Tsunade told her.

"Plus we would probably be in the way, I understand," Shizune answered her own question.

-o-

"You missed one," Sasuke told Naruto, pointing to one of the two ninja's that had not been scooped away by the chakra tail.

"Hm," Naruto mumbled.

-o-

A couple of hundred metres away the Hunter started to panick a little, looking at the enormous chakra man.

"Boss, let's go this way, we can surprise them," Ika nearly laughed, rubbing his hands together.

"No, no… we need to find that statue… yes, the statue. It is of utmost importance."

Ika turned around, to face the Hunter. "What? We are not going to attack?"

"Have you seen that thing around them? For now we don't have enough information about it."

"But… what about the others, they are giving their lives-"

"So very brave of them; stories will be told about their courage for years."

Ika just stared at the Hunter. "Boss…"

The Hunter narrowed his eyes. "You question me?"

"N-no, of course not! It's just-" Ika turned back, looking over to the woman kneeling on the ground, holding her burned arm and side.

The Hunter looked around Ika. "That girl? She's not worth it, I can tell you, she can't even do a simple thing as su-"

SLAP.

A hand hit him in the face, and Ika looked furious. "Don't ever… insult her!"

The Hunter looked up surprised, amazed his first man had hit him… in the face no less, his beautiful face. Gently he stroked his cheek. "Don't tell me you like her? She doesn't even look like a woman."

"You really don't know anyone of us, do you? You don't care about us? We are just doing your dirty work. It's all about your treasures, your stupid treasures!" Ika went all out; he had enough of the Hunter. He was insulting his… yes, the woman he loved! "You know what? You can find yourself another man to help you do your dirty work!"

Ika jumped away, going straight for the woman.

The Hunter grinned. "Fine by me, you are all expendable," he said softly to himself, smiling.

Ika arrived to the woman and laid his hand on her good shoulder. "You okay?"

"Yeah… I can still fight!" She said strongly.

Ika smiled. "Good, let's go then." She smiled back when he helped her stand up.

-o-

"Come on, Naruto, you can do better than that," Sasuke told Naruto as he kept missing the evading ninja with the giant tail.

"Don't-," Naruto took in a breath as he thought he had hit something, "Ah… You keep distracting me!"

The ninja elegantly avoided all slashes and sweeps of the tail; apparently it was his specialty to avoid.

Sasuke smirked. "You call this distraction?" Sasuke went to stand behind Naruto, and laid both hands on either side of Naruto's waist.

"What are you-?"

Sasuke kissed Naruto's neck. "_This_ is distraction," he whispered in Naruto's ear.

A shiver ran down Naruto's spine. "Yeah, you're right," Naruto said softly, enjoying what Sasuke was doing to him. The raven's tongue moved up over the blond's neck to kiss the jawline. At the same time his hands moved under the green jounin vest, the orange shirt, and wrapped around Naruto's stomach.

Naruto grinned, pulling his shoulders up when Sasuke nibbled on his earlobe. "I know you find this all exciting, I do too, but I'm still surprised you find the… energy and concentration to be able to keep this all up," Naruto indicated the shape around them, "while having some fun too."

"I learn fast," Sasuke told him between kisses.

"Hmm, I agree."

-o-

"What are they doing?" Sakura narrowed her eyes.

"I think they are kissing," Kakashi said lazily.

Sakura sighed. "In the middle of a fight? I am definitely going to lecture them later." Tsunade nodded in agree.

"I know I shouldn't say this, but…" Tsunade stood up. "Come on Uchiha, keep your hands off for a minute! Naruto, you do know the Hunter is escaping?" she yelled.

-o-

"She does know she doesn't need to yell for me to hear it?" Naruto asked.

"But she is (at least) half right; the Hunter _is_ escaping." Sasuke, however, didn't let go of Naruto. "Can't you make a Rasenshuuriken?"

"How should I know? I never did that before, you saw how long it took to form a normal Rasengan. This coul-"

"I meant you, not Susano'o."

Naruto was silent for a moment. "No, I don't want to leave you."

"You don't have to, you saw me do a katon-jutsu from in here." Sasuke laid his chin on Naruto's shoulder.

"You know I'm not great with chakra control or making a Rasenshuuriken alone…"

"Hm."

"I need Bunshins, plus I-"

"You whine a lot; I had not expected that."

"Okay, I'll try." Angrily Naruto swept the chakra tail (and his own too), actually hitting the flexible ninja. He was pushed into some rocks, knocking him out.

"I like it when you get emotional." Sasuke looked over Naruto's shoulder to the unconscious man.

"I'm not!" Naruto formed a cross-sign with his fingers, ready to make a Bunshin.

While he made a clone, Susano'o flickered a little; their chakra's fluctuating.

Ika and the woman chose that moment to attack, hoping it would be a weakness in their defence.

Which was true.

The metal chains from the Erika's jutsu went straight through the flickering chakra figure, curling around the hugging pair. Only the newly formed clone was still free, coming to existence after the chains twisted around the two.

Ika took out some kunai and shuuriken from his weapons pouch, and threw them just a second after the chains had wrapped the two together.

Some kunai scratched Sasuke and Naruto, and even a few shuuriken made contact with their bodies, causing to form hissing sounds from the pair.

The clone was able to jump out of the giant chakra figure. Immediately he went for Ika and the woman.

Ika jumped in front of his beloved blond-haired woman, deflecting Naruto's attacks.

While they fought, Erika tried to collect enough chakra to make the chains explode. If only her arm wouldn't hurt so much.

Susano'o began flickering only more frequently; its shape fading and then coming back.

"I don't mind being pushed against you like this, but…" Sasuke started, feeling the pressure of the chains in his flesh.

"I know- what you mean," Naruto said, having difficulty breathing.

"Maybe your clone should attack _her_ first."

"I can't tell it- what to do- from over here…"

The Bunshin did try to get to the woman, but was unable to. Jumping and moving around on the rocks he could only fight Ika. Ika was a very skilled fighter.

And then something that can only overcome Naruto happened: he tripped.

"Oops," the real Naruto commented when he saw the clone fall and roll down over the (pointy) rocks.

And of course since this was Naruto, this tumble turned out into something that could only happen to him. The clone actually knocked the woman over, breaking the jutsu.

Both the clone and the woman fell down a little further until they came to a halt.

The woman was the first to get up. She was obviously in pain; her burned side looked nasty from up close. She slashed out with a kunai, hitting the clone in the stomach, making it double over.

Sasuke and Naruto quickly tried to get free from the chains. Once Sasuke's hand was free, he moved it. Along with it Susano'o moved. It stretched its right arm, and in its hand formed a bow. In the other hand an arrow.

Ika was already on his way down to the woman, but she didn't see him. She pulled her kunai back from the clone, making it poof out of existence. When she turned around she found an arrow aimed at her.

"Shit!" She knew she was too late to avoid it; too late to run, too injured to evade it. She saw the arrow being shot like it was done in slow-motion. All she could do was straighten up, and face it.

"Nooo!" Ika landed in front of her, just in time to be hit by it as well. Facing her, the arrow went right through his stomach, and so it did too with the woman.

"W-why?" she asked.

"I rather die with you, than live on alone." He embraced her, hugging her, pushing himself to her.

"I love you too," she whispered in his ear, returning the hug.

-o-

Naruto watched at what was happening in front of them. "That's…" he couldn't say it. His parents, it was almost the same as what had happened to his parents.

Sasuke glanced over to Naruto, seeing he had frozen up. The chains were lying on the ground, but Sasuke pressed Naruto against himself as if they were still around them.

Then he and Naruto saw Ika turn his head to them.

"If only… you had died… when you… lost your arm!" he said, blood dripping down his chin from his mouth.

The arrow dissolved and they fell to the ground, dead.

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked softly.

"He said…" Naruto slowly said, knowing Sasuke hadn't been able to hear the dying words of Ika. "He wished I had died… when I had lost my arm."

For a second longer Sasuke pressed Naruto closed to him, before he needed to point out something. "We need to find the Hunter."

"Yes… the Hunter, you're right." Naruto turned around, facing Sasuke. "Let's teach him a lesson."

Sasuke grinned. "With pleasure."

Susano'o dissolved. They started running to the place they had last seen the Hunter.

"He was over there," Sasuke told Naruto.

"And I know he went that way," Naruto pointed to their right, sniffing the air. "Good thing he uses so much perfume."

They soon noticed how close they actually were to the entrance of the cave. They ran out of the (remarkably) still intact opening, out of the cave into the sun.

-oXo-

A/N: Sorry, I didn't felt like making a very long fight… but… the story kept growing and growing, still without an end… so I decided to cut it here ^^

Omake - special taco ending:

The sun was blinding him when he came out of the cave, so Sasuke moved his hand in front of his eyes.

When he had blinked a couple of time he noticed Naruto was gone.

"Naruto?" He looked around, trying to find him.

Suddenly Naruto appeared behind him, hugging him from behind, holding a…

"Taco?" Sasuke asked, looking down at the food in Naruto's hand on his chest.

"I knew you felt like… eating one." Naruto smirked. "After what just happened and all." Naruto started kissing Sasuke's neck.

"What? We should be looking for the Hunter. Naruto, what are you-" Sasuke was cut off by Naruto's finger on his mouth.

"Shhh, forget about him for now." Naruto kissed Sasuke's jaw. Slowly the taco in Naruto's hand moved up over Sasuke's chest.

"Hm, Naruto, the… the Hu-"

Naruto stopped kissing, and turned Sasuke around. He pouted. "Is the Hunter that important to you?" He looked up sadly. "More important than…" Naruto went to stand on his toes. He lightly kissed Sasuke on the mouth.

"Well," Sasuke said while shrugging, "Nothing is more important than you are, so…"

Naruto smiled. "Good, because I was thinking the same." Naruto pulled back from Sasuke, bringing the taco up, and took a bite from it. "Tacos are really important. We needed a break from fighting just for this." Naruto brought the taco back to his mouth.

Sasuke's eyes widened. This was not what he expected to happen at all; it wasn't something he had expected Naruto to say. "What?"

Naruto looked up to Sasuke, pulling the taco out of his mouth, looking slightly curious. "Hm?" He tilted his head.

"You aren't kidding?"

"No, why should I? Tacos _are_ important. What else did you expect when I showed you this taco?"

"Uh…" Sasuke was confused. "Last time you got all excited when you had a taco, so…"

Naruto looked into Sasuke's eyes. And burst out laughing. "Hahaha! That's so stupid, getting excited over a taco? Sasuke, really?"

Sasuke was stunned. Okay, it did sound a little weird, but…

Sasuke smiled. "You're right, it does sound stupid."

Naruto's face fell. "Really?"

"Yes, getting excited over a taco. That was really stupid of me to think."

"Why?" Naruto pouted again. "I was just joking." His lip quivered. "Of course I was excited over a taco! That's what happens!" He pushed Sasuke away. "But now I'm not anymore." Naruto turned away. "You can go after the Hunter by yourself, I'm going to have… a good time with a taco… just me and the taco!" And he was gone.

Sasuke was unable to move. "What?" He was stunned. "What was all that about?"

A wind blew through the trees, causing for the sunlight to shine into his eyes again. Sasuke brought up his hands once more.

"This is crazy."

-fade out to white-

2nd A/N: Um... how to say this to you... So... I don't really have the next chapter finished yet... :(

I used to have some chapters (quite a few) written in advance... but well... not anymore. AAH! But be not afraid! I have made a plan how to finish the story, and I will! ^^ It will just take a little bit longer...

In short: there will probably be no new chapter next week.


	34. Chapter 34: Seaside

Happy New Year! And sorry for the long wait...

-oXo-

**Chapter 34: Seaside**

_22__nd__ of December_

_They soon noticed how close they actually were to the entrance of the cave. They ran out of the (remarkably) still intact opening, out of the cave into the sun._

Naruto had to block the direct light from his eyes. There had been openings in the ceiling of the cave, which they had made, but still the last part had been dark.

Sasuke had stopped to let his eyes adjust, slowly looking around for clues of which way the Hunter had gone to.

"Where did you hide the statue?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

"I- um… I don't know exactly," Naruto smiled, his hand went up to his neck.

"Try to remember." Sasuke turned around to Naruto, laying his hands on Naruto's shoulders. Naruto looked up into the black eyes.

"Okay, I'll try." Naruto closed his eyes and tried to think of where he had gone that instant he had left the cave to take away the statue.

"I do know I put it in a hollow tree… but…"

"Focus."

"A hollow tree…"

"Hmhm," Sasuke nodded.

"A hollow tree…"

Naruto opened his eyes and shrugged. "A hollow tree, that's all." He smiled sheepishly.

Sasuke sighed. "You really are…"

"Stupid! You idiot! How can you not remember where you put it? You fool!"

"Who's the fool here?" Naruto and Sasuke turned to the Hunter as he stood a little further into the forest. "At least I didn't fall for such an obvious trap…" Naruto crossed his arms over his chest.

The Hunter's eyes widened a millimetre. "I fell for no trap, I chose to come forward on my own, to face you, to teach you a lesson."

Naruto started laughing, Sasuke smiled.

"I seriously doubt that," Sasuke told him. "You don't know what Naruto is like when I'm around."

The Hunter smiled. "That doesn't scare me."

"It should." Sasuke gave him his special emotionless, but nevertheless scary look. (How he does that, we will never know).

"I'm not that scary," Naruto told Sasuke.

"I didn't say scary, I just warned him for your passion when it comes to it. You don't give up easily."

Naruto smiled. "True."

The Hunter grinned. "You two are still so young; you just don't know how to deal with the situation." The blue-haired man carefully swiped some hair out of his face. "I'll make things easier for you. I would like to add those ears of yours to my collection, so I'll cut them off in a moment."

"What?"

Sasuke looked down onto Naruto's black fluffy ears. "Sorry," he said, reaching up to one ear and fiddling with it. "I like those too much; you can't have them."

"Enough about my ears," Naruto said, slightly annoyed about the topic. He waved his tail while pointing to the Hunter. "You are going to pay for what you've done. I want you to apologize to Akira-kun and Tsunade!"

The Hunter frowned. "Who?"

"Naruto, I think Tsunade-sama and Akira will be fine without that apology."

"Yeah," Naruto agreed.

The Hunter took out some pipe and put it to his mouth, as if he was about to play the flute. He blew a couple of times and quickly left his spot.

Sasuke and Naruto jumped away to different sides, the darts coming from the tube separating them. Hiding in a tree Naruto tried to locate the Hunter, but it was like his smell had become one with the air, literally. The strong smell of the perfume lingered everywhere, so that Naruto could not locate him at all. It actually made him dizzy by just breathing. He covered his nose, trying to just listen and see the blue-haired man.

When he had been imprisoned Naruto had found out a lot of non-important things about the Hunter, like he liked to change all of his jewellery every day, except for that one red ruby around his pinkie; he always wore that ring. Or that he took great pleasure in watching his victim's face while someone else tortured him. He didn't like to do the torturing himself, he probably was afraid for blood on his clothes. Naruto knew a lot more of useless information.

However, apart from all that un-useful facts he had also learned one thing that was a little more important. The Hunter was a specialist in making perfumes.

Maybe this sounded like useless information too, but there was more to it than just that. He was a specialist in making the perfumes for different uses: poison, smoke screen, make one dizzy, nauseous, unable to see, just name it.

"I need to find Sasuke," Naruto told himself.

He tried to stand up, ready to jump to the next branch, but suddenly felt very wobbly, and almost fell out of the tree.

Quickly he lowered himself, hunching down again. He needed to get out of the perfume, but he couldn't stand up. It was weird that when hunching down he didn't feel wobbly at all. He needed to get to the ground, but how? He looked down, which was a big mistake.

It was like he was standing on top of a huge tower, high above the clouds. This time sitting on his hunches didn't help him from feeling shaky. He suddenly has afraid of heights.

"Damn," he muttered, closing his eyes and quickly put both arms around the trunk of the tree. "This is stupid."

Naruto had never been afraid of heights before, now he had trouble sitting in a low tree. Hugging the tree, Naruto tried to calm down and think things over. _Was this a poison, messing with his mind, or a genjutsu. Why didn't it go away then?_

He had to get out of the tree to go the ground. So he tried to move down the tree trunk, but even moving a millimetre was too much.

Then he heard some movement behind him, coming to his location. The person coming closer landed on the same branch Naruto was sitting on.

"What are you doing?"

"Apparently being afraid of heights."

"It's a genjutsu, Naruto." Sasuke leant forward, touching Naruto's shoulder. "But it's a good one. I had a feeling you would have difficulty with it."

"Ah, that explains. Hurry up, this is so annoying." Sasuke smiled before lifting the genjutsu. Immediately Naruto let go of the tree. "That's a lot better." Naruto turned to Sasuke. "Luckily you are the greatest genjutsu expert I know." Sasuke grinned.

"Let's find the Hunter. Do you have any hinder from the perfume?"

"I rather not breathe through my nose, but otherwise I'm fine." Naruto started looking around, turning his ears to all kinds of directions.

"You think he's still close?"

"Yep." Naruto's ears stopped moving. "I hear something from that direction." Naruto moved his head to said direction.

"Let's check it out then." Sasuke stood up, waiting for Naruto to stand up.

Naruto looked down, seeing he was past being afraid of heights, and stood up too, smiling.

His tail swirled behind him. "Follow me."

Naruto stopped a couple of times, to listen around. Sasuke silently followed and waited, never saying a word.

"I think we are getting closer," Naruto said when he landed on the ground behind a bush, hunching down.

"Good." Sasuke stood up, ready to continue, but Naruto stayed low. Sasuke looked down at him. "What?"

"Isn't this kind of…"

Sasuke waited for Naruto to continue while he lowered again.

"I don't know." Naruto shook his head. "When I was captured, you had to look for me for at least a month. You couldn't find the hideout that easily."

"That was different."

"It's not. When they took me they made sure you could not trace me."

"But we did find you."

"But not with the trail of my abductors." Naruto turned to Sasuke and bit his lip. "They are good in running without leaving a trail, because he taught them how to do so. He's as he said it, the 'famous Treasure Hunter'. He hasn't been caught all these years for nothing. He knows how to hide."

"So what are you saying?" Sasuke still wasn't convinced.

"I'm not sure yet." Naruto turned away from Sasuke. "But this doesn't feel right."

"Naruto, I can understand."

"Hm? Understand what?" Naruto asked confused.

"You've had a… really hard time that one month he held you. You just… feel disappointed he's not that hard to defeat in a real battle."

"What? Why should I?"

"He abducted you, tortured you for weeks, and you could not escape. When you did… you lost your arm. It is a big deal, not something you get over soon or simply forget." Sasuke laid his hand on Naruto's shoulder. "It's okay to feel like this now we can find him so easily."

"No, Sasuke," Naruto shook his head. "I don't care about that. He had that all planned and knew what he was doing. Of course I don't like what happened or that I couldn't escape, but I can except that he was smart in that way." Naruto looked up to Sasuke. "It really_ is_ too easy." Naruto frowned. "I start to think we were the ones that fell for _his_ trap instead of the other way around."

"Naruto…"

"No, really, think about it. He always has _everything_ planned out. Everything. He had my abduction planned out, how to get his treasure back, even this meeting."

Sasuke let his hand drop. "I'm sorry Naruto, but I can't see-"

"Shit." Naruto's eyes suddenly widened, and Sasuke automatically looked around, thinking something was behind him.

When he saw nothing around him, he turned back to Naruto. "What is it?" he whispered.

"Eh, nothing, just thought I saw something."

"Hn."

"Maybe you're right. I want him to be harder to find… have an interesting fight." Naruto lowered his head a little.

Sasuke smiled. "It's alright." He laid his hand on Naruto's shoulder once more. "Let's get to him."

"Hm." Naruto nodded. Before they went away, Naruto glanced over to Sasuke. "This way."

After a while they were still running around, so Sasuke made Naruto stop. "What are you doing?"

"Hm? I'm trying to locate the Hunter," Naruto said, looking surprised by the question.

"Why are we running around like this then?" Sasuke asked a tad annoyed.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"We have been going back to where we came from and walking in circles."

"We have?" Naruto asked. "I just follow what I hear."

"Are you sure?"

"Yep."

Sasuke looked like he wasn't quite convinced, but didn't say anything else.

However, when they had been walking around for another 15 minutes he stopped Naruto again.

"What are you really looking for?" he asked slightly annoyed.

Naruto turned around and faced Sasuke. "You want the truth?"

"Yes."

"You."

It was silent for a moment. "What?" Sasuke looked confused.

"You heard me right. I'm looking for you."

"You found me over half an hour ago, I'm right here."

"No you're not."

"You saying I'm a what? A ghost?"

"No, a hallucination, or genjutsu, I'm not sure yet."

Sasuke started laughing. "You crack me up sometimes."

"I never 'crack you up'. No one does." Naruto swept his tail behind him. "This is just all to lure me to the Hunter, so that he can kill me instead of the other way around."

"What makes you say that?"

"Just some hunches… some small errors." Naruto looked up into Sasuke's black eyes. "A feeling."

"You say I'm fake because of a feeling?" Sasuke asked. "Naruto," he smiled.

"You see, here it is."

Sasuke's face fell. "Is what?"

Naruto smiled. "My love for Sasuke goes far beyond just knowing him, liking him." He touched Sasuke's face. "I know what he feels like, what it feels like to be around him." Naruto let his hand fall. "I don't just know him." Naruto waited for Sasuke to really look into his blue eyes, so he would understand. "I can feel him; in here. Always. We are one." Naruto let his hand rest on his chest.

Sasuke's face fell.

"And you know what? I'm not one with you. You were very convincing, but not good enough. Not for me, nor will you be able to fool the real Sasuke." Naruto's smile broadened. "Am I right?"

Sasuke quickly turned around, looking for someone there, but there was not, thinking Naruto had seen or heard the real Sasuke.

"Hahaha," Naruto laughed. "You are getting faker and faker by the second. That is not something Sasuke would do. He never looks frightened. And you know what? I don't think he was wearing a fan on his vest today. And that katana, it's the wrong colour."

The Sasuke began to panic, he looked around frightened.

"You want me to go on?"

"No, how did you know? You're lying. I'm real. Why shouldn't I be real? I'm your Sasuke. I'm him. I… I…"

Naruto couldn't help but keep laughing. "This is so funny. I've never seen Sasuke act like this. I'm going to tell him what he looks like when he's frightened and panicky."

The Sasuke was making strange movements, like he didn't know how to move anymore, what to do.

"You look a little pale. No, actually more like fading." Naruto stepped up to the Sasuke. "You know what? I don't know if it's the wrong colour." He pointed to the katana. "Or if he wears a fan on his vest… though I think he does," he added as an afterthought. "Anyway, doesn't matter. You're not real, my heart told me long before." He waved to the fading Sasuke. "Bye." And then he was gone, the Sasuke had faded away. Immediately the perfume scent became less.

"Too bad he wasn't real. I wish he was here."

"I am."

Naruto grinned, turning around. "You broke this a long time ago, didn't you?"

Sasuke smirked. "Of course, I had all this time to find you."

"And him?"

Sasuke's smirk widened. "Of course. It took you quite a while to break the jutsu."

Naruto pouted. "Don't rub it in."

"I rub in, whenever I want-" Naruto's eyes widened, "to rub-"

"So, where is he?" He cut Sasuke short.

Sasuke looked over to Naruto. "He tries to hide himself."

"Tell me where, so we can finish this. I want to go home and…"

Sasuke raised his eyebrows, being interested. "And…?"

"Trust me; you want to get home fast too."

"I do now." Sasuke pointed somewhere behind them. "Over there in that birch tree, sitting on the third branch."

"Okay," Naruto smiled.

"I'll lift the jutsu, you make a fast kill, and get us home."

Naruto laughed. "I like it when you are into it."

"I like to be… into it." Sasuke's smirk changed to something more similar to Naruto's foxy grin.

"I kno- wait… are we still on the same line here?" Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"Naruto, just kill the guy."

Sasuke's Sharingan spun in his eyes, ready to lift the jutsu.

"You sure you don't want to help?"

Sasuke looked down upon Naruto. His hand went up Naruto's shoulder. He waited for Naruto's sky blue eyes to reach his night sky black eyes. "He hurt you the most. I know we all like to help you get him, but the last part… you should do it. You need to close it." His hand moved up to Naruto's chin.

Naruto kept staring into Sasuke's small universes. "I…" He smiled.

"This is your moment. All yours; as it should be."

"Thank you." Naruto hugged Sasuke, who of course hugged him back.

"Just make sure he gets what he deserves," Sasuke said with a serious look on his face.

Naruto became serious too. He nodded. "I will," he said calmly.

Nothing happened, they just stood there for a moment, thinking of what was about to come. Killing someone is not easy, even when being a ninja. Naruto didn't like to kill, but he knew this man was better off not being around.

Sasuke lifted the jutsu, his tomoe danced in his eyes. Then he kissed Naruto lightly on the lips.

Before he was even aware that they had parted their lips, Naruto was gone.

-x-

The Hunter would never know what hit him; what pierced him to be precise. Before Naruto had moved away from Sasuke, he had decided he didn't want to do this all alone. He needed Sasuke, because he wanted him to help him make this kill. Just because he wanted Sasuke to be able to let this go too.

Sasuke's katana stuck through the Hunter's torso, through his heart. If he had ever had one.

Naruto looked down upon the place where the katana connected with the hunter. The place where he had carefully aimed the silver blade; the part of Sasuke he had taken with him.

"You will not hurt anyone ever again." Naruto whispered. "It was a mistake to try adding me to your collection, even worse to let me know what was all going on inside your hideout; your 'display'. But worst of all was to involve my family. And I don't just mean Sasuke and Akira-kun. Konoha is my family. I will protect them all."

Naruto pulled the katana out of the Hunter's lifeless body, and straightened up. "If only you had taken this meeting seriously." He turned away.

-x-

It had taken Tsunade, Shizune, Sakura and Kakashi a while to find their way out of the mess inside the cave. It had taken them even more time to figure out what Naruto had just told them about what had happened, and even a lot more time to realize he was already gone with Sasuke before he had even finished his sentence.

"Sasuke?"

"Hn."

Naruto and Sasuke were walking the last part of their trip back home, strolling through the village, hand in hand, enjoying being back at home.

"This is finally closed?"

"Almost."

Naruto looked up to Sasuke, his eyebrows raised. "What do you mean, almost?"

Sasuke lifted Naruto's orange hand. "It's not finished yet."

Naruto looked down to the hand. His arm was complete; it just needed a hand to finish it. "I see."

So… almost. That sounded good. Naruto smiled and pulled his hand out of Sasuke's to put it around his waist. He hugged Sasuke tightly while walking on. "We should go out more often."

"We don't do that enough?"

"I mean out the village."

"Hm."

"I knew you would agree."

They walked on in silence for a bit longer. Suddenly Naruto pulled Sasuke into the wrong direction.

"I know memorization isn't your best talent, but I was under the assumption you at least knew where we lived. Have we been away for too long?"

Naruto playfully pushed Sasuke. "I just decided to head somewhere else."

Sasuke glanced down onto Naruto's yellow spikes and fluffy ears, but said nothing. Until Naruto stopped. He was about to ask why, when Naruto spoke first.

"Okay, close your eyes."

Sasuke's eyebrow quivered, about to raise it, but they didn't. Naruto's silence only made his curiosity grow, and so did Naruto notice.

"I promise you'll like it."

Sasuke slowly closed his eyes. "Just don't push me into a fruit stand like last time."

"That was an accident," Naruto muttered.

Naruto's arm slowly left Sasuke's waist, moving over his back, his side, his arm until their hands locked again. "Come."

Naruto started running away.

After a while Sasuke started smiling. "I know where this is going."

Naruto smiled too. "That's a relief."

"How could I forget?"

Naruto jumped up, Sasuke followed, knowing where they were going he didn't need Naruto's guidance, but let him do so nonetheless. The feeling of trust came back. That same feeling of when they had done this for the first time; Naruto's warm hand in his, his heart beating a little faster – this time not out of excitement for the unknown; on the contrary, it was for what he knew was going to happen.

Finally the cool wind hit his face, his hair being blown to all sides as they slowed down, calmly walking over to that special place.

Naruto didn't need to tell Sasuke to open his eyes when they stopped, looking out over Konoha.

They looked around for quite a while. Naruto's tail sweeping in the wind. Sasuke felt the cold wind blowing around him and that one warm hand, which had its fingers locked with his; his source of warmth.

"Just to see where you do it for," Sasuke said softly.

"Hm?" Naruto looked up to Sasuke.

"That's what you said."

Naruto smiled. "I remember."

"You also remember what else happened that evening?"

"Not sure." Naruto smiled foxily. "I think you need to make me remember." He stepped closer to Sasuke, pressing his body to that of the raven. "Are you cold?"

"Hm," Sasuke smiled.

Naruto went to stand on his toes.

And they kissed.

* * *

><p>The sun was shining, it was nice and warm. Everything seemed perfect.<p>

"Are we there yet?"

"I told you, no."

"Almost?"

"No." Sasuke sighed.

"How far do we have to go then?"

"A little less than 2 minutes ago."

"Oh."

"Akira-kun, let's play a game."

"Yay!" Akira skipped over to Sakura. "What kind of game?"

"I didn't know that seeing the sea could be so exciting for a 5-year old," Naruto told Sasuke.

"He has already seen a lot when he was travelling around, but never the sea before. He has high expectations of it."

"I know it's big and a sight to see, but water is water. A big lake would have fooled me too."

"But not Akira, I'm sure."

Naruto looked up to Sasuke. "Yeah, you're right."

Akira came running back to them, and grasped Sasuke's pants, tugging it while looking back.

"What are you-?" Sasuke started, looking down.

"This?" Akira asked, looking to Sakura.

"No," Sakura shook her head.

Akira looked down to Sasuke's sandals, then to his own, next to Naruto's. He pouted before he turned his head away.

"It really isn't that hard to guess," Sakura smiled.

Taking some extra steps to keep up with Sasuke and Naruto, Akira kept looking around. "Um…" he turned so he could look up to Sasuke again. His eyes carefully examined everything about Sasuke before he shook his head and turned to look to Naruto.

"Oh, oh!" Akira suddenly said very excitedly. He started jumping up and down. "That, that!" He pointed up to Naruto's face. Sakura smiled. "Naruto's eyes!"

"Yes," Sakura said; her smile becoming bigger when she saw Akira happily ran around Naruto.

"You're making me dizzy," Naruto told the small boy, looking at the raven run around him.

Akira stopped running and reached up, sliding his small hand between Naruto's fingers; his own _real_ fingers, not the chakra fingers.

Naruto looked down. "Does it still hurt?" Akira asked, carefully stroking the two real fingers between the three orange ones, which had some bandages around them.

"It's alright. You bandaged up my hand, it helps ease the pain."

Akira smiled broadly before he looked down to his handy work. Naruto had woken him up in the middle of the night. The growing of half of the palm of Naruto's left hand and three finger -two complete, one partly- had been the reason. Akira had insisted that he wanted to bandage Naruto's hand when the growing had stopped.

"You'll become a great medical ninja one day," Sakura told the boy, making him smile even more.

Naruto's tail swirled around. "I think…" he started.

Akira looked up to Naruto, still holding his hand. Naruto pointed in front of him. "I see Sai."

"Sai?" Akira turned to see him too. "Sai-san's there!" He let go of Naruto's hand and ran to Sai.

"Finally, we're almost there," Sakura said, walking over to Sai too, waving at him. "Missed me?"

"I think he was glad to get a breather," Naruto muttered to Sasuke. "She sure talks _a lot_."

"About him," Sasuke added.

"Glad he's here now, so she can bother him."

Sasuke grinned. "She actually reminds me of you."

Naruto nearly got a whiplash turning his head so fast. "What?"

"You talk a whole lot more." Sasuke grinned. "I can only imagine what you tell other people about me." Sasuke walked on to catch up with the others.

"Nothing good!" Naruto called after him, lowering his ears. "Not anymore." He narrowed his eyes.

-x-

The sand was warm under his feet, but he liked it. He had never seen the sea before! Never been to the beach. He had already built a sandcastle with Naruto, had swum a little with Sakura, and had passed a beach ball with Sai. He now was ready to do something with his father. And he just had found the perfect thing.

"Look, look!" he said, running to Sasuke, holding a shell in his hands.

Sasuke motioned for him to lower his voice, pointing to Naruto. Lying fully in the sun on a beach towel, Naruto had fallen asleep, softly purring.

Akira looked from his father, who was being wise enough to sit under a parasol, to Naruto. "Sorry," he said softly. Then again he held up his hands. "Look what I found!" he said enthusiastically, but almost in a whisper.

Sasuke looked at the shell. Akira had never been to the sea before, therefore not knowing that the beach was covered with shells, just like the one he was holding now.

"Hm," Sasuke said carefully. He had no idea what to say. To be honest, he wasn't really interested in the shell, but he also didn't want to disappoint the boy. "It's…" He searched for words. He only needed one, but even that seemed a difficult task. And even became harder when he noticed the expecting face of the small raven.

"It's," he said again. _Just say beautiful, it's not so hard… or nice, it doesn't matter. Parents do it all the time, even when they don't mean it. Just say it. Come on… nice… ni-ce…_

"Well…" _N__ice. Say it!_

"Wow, Akira-kun, that's a lovely shell you got there," Sakura said, walking to them with a few drinks in her hands.

Sasuke froze up. _Lovely?_ His eyes darkened a bit.

Akira smiled. "But it has a small hole in it." He held up the shell to Sakura, and pointed to the tiny hole.

Sakura put down the drinks, and took the shell from Akira, turning it around.

"Look, here." Akira pointed to it once more now that he had Sakura's attention.

"Oh, but that's not so bad," Sakura said.

Akira tilted his head. Sakura walked over to her bag and began searching for something. Akira leant over, trying to look around her at what she was doing.

In the meantime, Sasuke was wondering why Sakura had been able to say something praising about the shell so easily, while he hadn't. He hadn't even been able to tell it was nice. She had made it worse by saying it was lovely. Silently and unnoticeably he moped as he watched Sakura pull out some black string of her bag.

"Look," she said, pulling the cord through the hole in the shell. "Your first seashell, hanging around a necklace." Sakura held out the necklace to Akira.

Akira looked at it before he carefully accepted it from Sakura. "Oh," he said.

"You don't like it?" Sakura asked, and secretly Sasuke was relieved; slowly cheering up.

"Um…" Akira started, not daring to look Sakura in the eyes any longer. "It's just…" He began twisting and turning, like he always did when he was afraid or nervous to tell something. "A necklace is for girls," he said in such a soft voice both Sasuke and Sakura had to lean in closer to hear him.

However, this made Akira even more nervous. He took a step back.

"It's not, Akira-kun," Sakura told him. "I don't wear a necklace."

"And I do," Sasuke said.

Akira looked up with surprise. "You do?" he asked.

Sasuke nodded and started pulling off his shirt. Sakura and Akira watched him. A necklace became visible, a cord with a small blue-

"That's the bird I gave you!" Akira said loudly, making Sasuke smile as he jumped a couple of times.

"Bird?" Sakura asked, looking at the navy blue stone around Sasuke's neck.

"You see? Now I always have a part of you with me."

"Really? Why?" Akira asked, holding out his hand to touch the stone. The stone was not a part of Akira, so what did his father mean?

Sasuke watched him for a moment before he laid his own hand on top of Akira's small one, which made Akira look up into his eyes.

"Because only the two of us can see the bird; it connects us," Sasuke calmly said. Sakura saw how sincere he was about this. It meant a great deal to him to tell Akira this.

"It can?" Akira asked, looking back to his covered hand.

"It does," Sasuke said sincerely. A smile appeared on Akira's face.

"Then I want something too that connects me; to you and kaa-chan."

Sasuke smiled. "We can look for something."

Akira suddenly jumped up to Sasuke, hugging him. "I love you."

Sasuke smiled broadly, embracing Akira's hug. "I love you too. You are everything to me."

Sakura smiled when she saw the look on Sasuke's face. He was proud, and if she didn't knew him better she would have expected him to brag about Akira right now.

Akira pulled back, but held Sasuke's hand, pulling it. "Come, let's find more shells!"

"Alright, take it easy." Sasuke quickly got his shirt and followed Akira.

Sakura sighed. "What do you think of children?" she asked.

Sai just came walking up to Sakura, hunching down behind her. "That they can be annoying."

Sakura pushed Sai back. "I mean in the future."

Sai didn't say anything. "Shouldn't we move the parasol or something?" he asked, looking over to Naruto.

"Would be a waste of energy probably. It's his own fault for falling asleep lying full in the sun."

Sai did something to his face that might be a smirk.

Then the both of them turned their head to look beyond Naruto. Kakashi was walking up to them with three smaller people around him.

The one with two braids falling down her shoulders started waving abundantly. "Sakura-sensei!" Then she stopped when she saw Naruto fast asleep. She stopped Kenji and Ryomaru beside her.

"This… is an opportunity," she told them.

Kenji followed her eyes, understanding what she meant. A tiny smile appeared on his face. "What's the plan?"

"We scare him," Eri grinned evilly.

Kakashi had stopped behind them, waiting where this was going while taking out his book to read.

"We can't do that," Ryomaru said.

"Come on, he pulls jokes on us all the time," Kenji told him. Ryomaru couldn't deny that. "You remember him 'accidentally' letting you trip and fall against that girl a few weeks ago?"

Ryomaru instantly turned red. "T-that was a-an a-a-acci-dent," he stuttered to Kakashi, who didn't even found it necessary to look down to Ryomaru.

"It wasn't Ryomaru-kun. Besides, what about when he 'spilled' tomato sauce on top of your head?"

Ryomaru was silent for a moment. "Let's do it, what's the plan?" he said seriously.

Eri and Kenji smiled. Eri turned to Kenji. "You got one?"

Kenji looked over to his two teammates. "Of course, but it's quite simple. Simple, but effective"

"Sounds good to me, tell us."

They huddled together.

"I feel some teamwork coming," Kakashi said.

-x-

It was so nice and warm. He was nice and warm. Even in his dreams everything was good, nice and warm. A soft breeze tickled his skin every once in a while.

However, suddenly this warm feeling was gone. It became cold and dark. Maybe if he waited for a bit the warmth would come back, but-

"BHAAAA!"

Naruto jumped up, all hairs on his tail stood on end and his heart couldn't slow down. He could have had a heart attack right now.

"Aaaaaah!" Startled he looked up, around, to see who woke him up so suddenly, taking in a defensive stand. "What was that all ab-" He stopped, looking around. "Eh…"

"Sensei, why?" In front of Naruto stood Eri, blocking his sunlight.

"Eri-chan?" Naruto asked hesitantly. "What are you doing here?"

"This is all your fault, sensei," she said. Naruto looked confused.

Ryomaru came walking to Eri, stopping beside her. "Have you forsaken us, Naruto-sensei?"

"I… what?"

"You didn't train with us for over a month! We haven't seen each other… like forever!" Eri yelled loudly into Naruto's ear.

All Naruto could do was turn his ears the other way, lowering them, and stare at his team; afraid to say anything wrong at the moment.

"Better let this be a warning," Kenji said as he walked up to his teammates. "Or we'll come to hunt you."

"When we're dead!" Eri said dramatically.

"I was… busy," Naruto told them.

"That's no excuse!" Eri grasped Naruto by his fox ears.

"Ah, Eri-chan! Be careful, sensitive… sensitive!" Naruto said panicky.

"You better not do that again!" she yelled directly into his ears.

Naruto thought he had gone deaf. "Aarh," he whined softly, closing his eyes. "Sensitive," he muttered once more.

Eri let go and took a step backward. Carefully Naruto brought his hands to his ears, covering his abused hearing system.

"I really _was_ busy with important stuff!" Naruto nearly cried in pain.

"Those fake tears won't work on us," Eri said stubbornly, crossing her arms.

"Eh, Eri-chan, I think those tears are real. You did yell into his ears," Ryomaru tried to explain to Eri.

"Then he should have thought about leaving us behind like adorable, cute little kittens, being left to their fate in a carton box."

Both Kenji and Ryomaru looked at Eri. "Kittens in a box?" Kenji asked, not believing she had come with that comparison.

"That's so sad," Ryomaru said.

"I'm really sorry, okay?" Naruto told them. "But I honestly had a lot to do, helping Tsunade arranging a meeting, then going there, killing ninja…" Naruto rubbed his ears. "Ouch… ah, please don't ever do that again."

Eri looked down to Naruto, hands in her sides, a frown on her face. "Do we forgive him?" she asked the other two.

"Not until he offers us a real apology," Kenji said.

"And if he promises us to stop pulling jokes on us," Ryomaru added. Kenji and Eri looked over to Ryomaru at this.

"Hmm, sounds good. Good one, Ryo," Kenji said.

"But…" Naruto's mouth fell open. "I can't promise that!"

"Why not?"

Naruto stared at them, a little lost. "That's… that's how I am."

"Eh." The trio looked at each other again.

"Might be true, seeing his… nature," Kenji said, as they huddled together closer.

"Yes, I agree. It's sad, but you're right." Eri looked over her shoulder -so did the others- to Naruto.

"Hmm, I guess sensei wouldn't be sensei without his sad humour."

"What do you mean, sad?" Naruto asked.

"Maybe we should formulate it differently?"

"Sounds good."

The un-huddled and looked at Naruto. Sakura, Sai and Kakashi, standing somewhere to Naruto's left watched on with amusement.

"You will treat us to good food after training for the next month," Eri said.

"You will train us and give us the best missions, for the next month," Kenji added.

"And you will not prank on us for the next month," Ryomaru ended.

The three of them waited patiently for Naruto's reply.

Naruto couldn't believe they would make him promise all that.

"You have to, Naruto," Sakura said.

"A whole month… without pranks?" Naruto asked softly, still rubbing his ears.

The trio nodded.

"I… can't you make that a week? I promise I will treat you the next month too!"

They shook their heads collectively. "No sensei, this is our deal."

"Seems really hard on him," Sai whispered to Sakura.

"Indeed."

"Okay… I promise," Naruto said softly, a tad annoyed he couldn't get around it.

It was silent for a second before…

"YAY!"

"He actually agreed!"

"We did it!"

Naruto silently mumbled something inaudible.

For the next 15 minutes the trio celebrated and teased Naruto about how startled he had been, and especially about his tail. 'It was like this thick' and 'I always thought you were partly fox, but now I start to think it might be a squirrel'.

"You have your swimsuits with you?" Sakura finally asked when they were done teasing their sensei.

"We did."

"Let's go swim," Sakura said. "Come Naruto, you too."

Muttering Naruto stood up and walked along with the rest. However, when no one looked it became a smile.

-x-

Sakura was sitting under the parasol along with Sasuke, Kakashi and Sai. Eri, Ryomaru, Kenji and Akira were just chased out of the water by Naruto.

Dripping they walked over to their place of gathering. The four kids sat down in the sun, waiting to dry. Naruto sat down next to Sasuke, trying to get him wet too for a few short minutes before he got slapped on the head.

Rubbing his sore head, Naruto took some distance from Sasuke.

"Who wants…" Sakura then asked.

Akira was already jumping up and down before she had even finished her sentence. "I do, I do, I do!"

"-Popsicles?" Sakura finished her sentence, smiling. She reached for the cool box.

"Can I? Can I?" Akira asked, still dancing around.

Sakura held up a few different flavours. "Which one?" she asked.

"I want blackberry! Please." Akira happily danced around with the ice in his hands. "Sai-san! Sai-san! Please open it for me?" Dancing around Sai, waiting for him to open the wrapping, Akira made the others laugh.

"However you got such a cute kid is beyond me," Naruto teased Sasuke, earning him a glare.

"Sasuke-kun is cute too. I thought you knew," Sakura grinned.

"Nah, Sasuke definitely isn't cute."

Sakura raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Huh?"

"He's beautiful," Naruto told her, wagging his eyebrows. "Don't you agree?" Naruto asked, letting his hands slide over Sasuke's pale arm.

"Well… I can't really deny that, after loving him for such a long time," Sakura giggled.

"I knew you would agree," Naruto giggled with her.

"Ladies, ladies," Kakashi intervened. "You're Popsicles will melt." He sat down behind Naruto.

Naruto grumbled, trying to ignore Kakashi's comment, but unable to do so.

"Don't know what you are so disappointed about, I thought we had concluded you were a girl some time ago," Sai said.

Naruto's eye twitched, he was about ready to attack when Sasuke put an arm around him. "Calm down princes."

"Gah!" Naruto stiffened up at Sasuke's comment, not knowing what to say to that.

"Oh, you two are so cute together," Eri told them, pulling her hands up to her chin.

Ryomaru obviously didn't know where to look, so instead took his ice lolly and looked down to Akira when he was still dancing around Sai.

"Will you come with me to look for crabs? Will you, please?" Akira asked Sai.

Sai looked down to the small version of Sasuke, his ocean coloured eyes staring into Sai's. "Okay."

Kenji declined the Popsicle, just like Sasuke, they didn't like the ice.

"I'm going over to those caves," the orange haired boy said softly.

"You want some shadow," Eri smiled. "I'll go with you; I would like to see those caves too."

While the two walked away, Naruto accepted his orange flavoured Popsicle. He put the ice in his mouth, sucking on it. "Hmm."

Akira was running away with Sai in tow. Ryomaru slowly following them.

Sakura looked over to Kakashi, who was just looking out over the sea.

The four of them sat in silence, enjoying their day off.

As Naruto ate his ice, Sasuke was staring at him. Slowly he pulled up his legs, still watching Naruto. It was like his eyes were glued to Naruto.

Suddenly Naruto looked up into Sasuke's eyes, smiling at him when he felt the stare directed at him. He continued sucking on the Popsicle.

This went on for a moment before Sasuke turned his head away.

"Naruto," he said, making Naruto curious, and Sakura and Kakashi look up to him.

A plopping sound came from Naruto when he pulled the Popsicle out of his mouth. "Yeah?"

"You better stop that."

Naruto frowned. "Stop what?"

"That," Sasuke pointed to the dripping ice lolly in Naruto's hands without looking around.

It was silent for a moment, while Naruto looked down to his ice, and back to Sasuke a couple of times before he licked the melting ice, ignoring him.

"Oh my-" Sakura sighed, putting her hand over her eyes when she saw Sasuke twitch, wrapping his arms around his knees. Kakashi sniggered.

"What? Why?" Naruto asked, looking around confused., which made Sasuke look at him again. "What is it?" He put the Popsicle back into his mouth.

"No, don't." Sasuke leant forward to Naruto to grasp the ice. Naruto pulled back. "What's wrong?" He licked the Popsicle.

Sasuke looked the other way, suddenly very quiet.

"I think I need to see what Sai, Akira-kun and Ryomaru-kun are doing," Sakura suddenly said, standing up and walking away. "This is just…" She shook her head.

Naruto looked up surprised, still wondering what was going on. He turned his head back to Sasuke. "What is it that I don't get?" When Sasuke didn't move, Naruto looked over to Kakashi. "What?"

Kakashi's eye sparkled joyfully. "I surely hope he's not always this…"

Naruto's face fell. "What? Always what?"

"Shut up," Sasuke grumbled to Kakashi, not looking at him.

Kakashi chuckled, burying his nose in his orange book.

Naruto couldn't stand it. He hated it when people didn't let him in on what they were talking about. Especially when he was part of the subject. Kakashi had his nose deep inside the book, and Sasuke was glancing to Naruto every now and then, watching him move his tongue over the length of the Popsicle to prevent the watery substance from dripping onto his hand.

All at a sudden, just as Sasuke looked away again, turning his head to his right, something clicked in Naruto's mind.

He took a small sharp breath, lowering his halfway consumed ice lolly. He looked Sasuke over, glanced to Kakashi –who was not making any movements except with his eye- and then a grin appeared on his face, his ear twitching.

Naruto shuffled to Sasuke, leaning against his silky white skin. He grinned when he saw Sasuke's reaction, a hint of surprise that Naruto was suddenly so close.

Naruto made sure Sasuke watched him as he started licking the ice once more. Sasuke shifted uncomfortably, but was unable to make any real movements; certainly not away from Naruto. He was too captivated by what Naruto was doing.

The blond stopped sucking the Popsicle and abruptly put it in Sasuke's mouth. Surprise still visible on Sasuke's face, Naruto leant to his ear and started whispering, making sure Kakashi wouldn't hear.

"You like what you see?"

Sasuke didn't respond. He only took the ice lolly out of his mouth, not really liking the taste of it.

Naruto sniggered. "You're hard."

Sasuke hadn't needed for Naruto to tell him that. "What are you going to do about it?" he whispered back.

This time Naruto didn't answer, at least not with words. His smile changed into something mischievous, and his ears twitched again.

"Thi-" Sasuke was cut short by a kiss. At the same time he was pushed back into the sand, Naruto resting on top of him, his hands moving over Sasuke's sides

After a while Kakashi glanced over his book, saw what he saw, and turned back to it.

Still making out on the beach, Naruto moved his hands along Sasuke's swimming trunks, fiddling with the string, while the Popsicle lay forgotten in the sand beside them.

-x-

"What are tou-chan and Naruto doing?" Akira asked Sai as he stood staring into the distance, a small crab in his hand.

Sai looked up too, seeing Naruto and Sasuke lie on top of each other. "Foreplay to-"

Sakura hit Sai on his arm very hard; it would definitely leave a nasty bruise. "Ahaha," Sakura tried laughing it off. "Sai, Sai, Sai. You can be so _funny,_" she spat the last word to him. Then she turned to look at Akira. "Naruto is just helping otou-san spread some sunscreen on his… ehm… chest."

"Oh." Akira looked up to Sakura. "He does get burned quickly."

"Yes, indeed, he does," Sakura smiled. "Oh, look, is that another crab?" she pointed to the beach, somewhere to their right.

Akira looked down. "Where?"

Glad Akira was distracted, giving Sai a last filthy look, Sakura turned her attention to Akira.

Sai stood, without any emotion on his face, rubbing his sore arm. "What did I say wrong?" he asked.

Ryomaru, standing almost beside Sai, looked up. "You eh…" Ryomaru started blushing madly. Knowing he wouldn't be able to say anything, he walked off.

"Hm," Sai said, still not understanding. Was Sakura jealous? Was having sex on the beach something a woman… desired?

Thinking this over in his head, very carefully, Sai started walking.

-x-

Sasuke moved his legs up beside Naruto while his hands moved over Naruto's back. Naruto was still playing with the border of Sasuke's swimsuit, letting his new fingers feel what it was like to do this. Making sure he still remembered it correctly.

"Maybe…" Naruto whispered, almost unable to contain his giggling, "you should take them…"

Sasuke grasped the edge of his trunks. "Not here."

"Ahw." Naruto started kissing Sasuke's chest.

"No, better not here," Kakashi said aloud.

"Then maybe we should," Sasuke changed his mind.

"You wouldn't even dare," Kakashi interjected.

"Hn." Sasuke turned his head to Kakashi, raising an elegant eyebrow.

Kakashi looked up, staring back into the dark eyes of the raven. Naruto just pretended nothing was wrong, enjoying himself too much.

Sasuke suddenly stopped Naruto and made him look up to him, holding his face in his hands. "You can do it."

Naruto's mouth fell open, but he didn't say anything.

This was the moment. Kakashi and Sasuke both knew what was in Naruto's hands, and so did the blond.

"Um… eh…" he stuttered. What should he do? He wouldn't mind doing it, but Kakashi… the others…

He turned redder and redder the more he thought about it.

"Hm, told you so," Kakashi said.

"What?" Naruto didn't want to give Kakashi his right, he was all for Sasuke.

His hands shaking he moved them lower over Sasuke's torso.

All the attention was on Naruto's hands. Shakily his fingers wrapped around the string to untie the piece of clothing standing between him and… a happy Sasuke.

And then he messed up. The bandage around his left hand got stuck in the string, his growing finger too and he tried to pull it loose.

"Shit, ah, that hurts," Naruto swore, as blood came from the tender wounds of his growing hand. "Ah, get it loose."

"I thought you were doing that!" Sasuke told him, getting up so he could help Naruto.

"Don't say it like that! Itai, it really hurts. Aah."

"Then sit still!" Sasuke tried to untie them.

Kakashi sighed, shaking his head and turning back to his book. He should have known.

-oXo-

A/N: Yeah, I know, it took me a while to come to the point and kill the Hunter… sorry for that. Hope it wasn't too disappointing?


	35. Chapter 35: It's time

**Chapter 35: It's time**

_14__th__ of January_

They did it on purpose. They had let him make a promise, a big one too, but of course that wasn't enough. They had to rub it in. It just wasn't fair. This was very difficult for him already without them making it any worse. Maybe he deserved it, but he was just like this, had always been, and would always be. And his team was just so perfect, they were fooled so easily.

Naruto looked with pain in his eyes, pain from not being able to do anything, while Kenji stared up at him, watching him, keeping an eye on him.

"Oh, come on," Naruto whined silently.

"What's wrong, sensei? Can't keep to your promises?"

Immediately Naruto gave him a serious look. "I _always_ keep my promises, it's my nindo!"

Kenji grinned a tad evilly.

Standing on the ground was a bucket with red paint. The brush was resting on top. Next to it stood Kenji, his arms crossed; nothing out of the ordinary, but on the other side of the bucket…

Ryomaru, wearing his mostly white shirt, had his back to Naruto, all open… open for a prank… but he couldn't, he had promised them not to play jokes on them for a month. A whole month! He didn't know how to survive, he had only promised them four days ago… just four… and it was hell!

Naruto looked away, trying to distract himself, but his fingers were tingling. He wanted so badly… It was unnatural not to use this opportunity.

"How's he doing?" Ryomaru asked.

"Not that great, he's shaking."

"Shouldn't you two be painting?" Naruto asked.

Eri frowned at him, turning her head away from her paintjob. "You promised good missions."

"And I told you that you have to do this one before I could get you a good one."

"At least he'll treat us to dinner after the mission."

Kenji bent down to pick up his brush, and continued to paint the flower box behind him.

Naruto breathed out in relief, the danger of a prank-to-be-made was over… for now anyways.

"I must admit that I don't like the painting," Eri said, stepping back from her plant box, "but when I'm finished, I have to admit it looks so much better."

Ryomaru nodded.

"You only did four," Naruto told her, "You better get on to it; a whole street is waiting for you. It will be a late dinner otherwise."

"Now he's getting grumpy," Eri muttered. "I wonder what he will be like after a month."

"Dead, I'm sure."

"Hé, you can't say that, Kenji," Naruto told Kenji off, hitting the back of his head.

"Ouch." Kenji rubbed his head.

"I am not grumpy," Naruto told them.

"Ha, then what?" Eri asked, grinning. "Does this have to do with Sasuke-sama?"

"Eh, no… why?" Naruto asked confused.

"Oh, no reason." Eri turned her back to him, starting to paint the next box.

Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"Is Sasuke-sama coming to dinner too?" Kenji asked, trying to be subtle.

"Don't know, maybe if he and Akira-kun feel like it."

"Maybe you should ask him… to come too?" Kenji tried.

Eri smiled at what Kenji was doing.

"I could," Naruto said while watching Ryomaru paint, having a bit of a fight with his brush.

"Maybe Gamatebukuro can help, we haven't seen him for such a long time," Eri helped Kenji.

"Tebukuro?" Naruto asked, looking over to Eri. "You want to see him again? I thought you didn't like frogs."

"I don't like toads, frogs are fine. Plus I like his tiny gloves," Eri giggled. "They're so cute."

"You will summon him, sensei?" Kenji asked, realizing that was a bit too straight forward, he added, "Maybe he can help us paint."

"If you want to," Naruto said. He un-crossed his arms and knelt down. He thought about reopening a wound on his left hand, but then decided against it. Biting his thumb he made hand signs to summon the frog. "Kuchiose no jutsu."

A small puff of smoke and there Gamatebukuro stood, his gloves included.

"Heya all," he greeted team 9.

"Hey, Tebu-chan." Eri waved at him.

"They want you to help them paint," Naruto told the frog.

The frog turned around. "Me? Why don't _you_ help them out. You're their sensei."

Naruto saw trouble coming. "Hey, I don't ask anything of you," he said holding up his hands.

The frog narrowed his horizontally slit eyes.

"We don't," Eri told the frog, "But it's easier to convince Naruto-sensei like this."

The frog smiled. "I see." He looked around to Naruto, who was distracted by a woman talking to him.

"That's so nice, make sure you don't forget it again." She smiled at Naruto, who of course smiled back.

"I will try, I'm such a-"

"So, what's the mission?" the frog asked.

"Painting there plant boxes in this street. Team 8, 14, 16 and 20 are doing the ones in the other streets."

"And what's the real reason I was summoned?" the frog grinned.

Team 9 exchanged looks. "Could you go to Sasuke-sama-" Kenji started.

"And Akira-kun," Ryomaru added.

"-and ask them if they want to join us for dinner?" Eri ended.

"Ah, I see where this is going." The frog smiled. "I can do that. Change the message a little, making it come from Naruto… Yes, that will work out just fine."

"You're the greatest, Gamatebukuro."

The frog grinned. "I know."

"We'll give you some insects in return," Ryomaru promised.

"Sounds good. I like working with you guys." The frog turned around. "Well then, I'll see you later." He jumped off.

"And they're doing such a fine job too. You must have it easy being their sensei. They are so kind doing this for our village," the woman told Naruto.

"Yes, they are the best. Look at how much fun they have," Naruto said pointing to his team, which quickly continued painting.

"Mama, tired," a small child beside her said.

"I know sweetie." She picked up her little girl. "Please tell Uchiha-sama that I'll be glad to look after Akira-kun again when necessary."

"I sure will." Naruto waved goodbye. "Bye, Nao-chan," he said to the girl.

Shyly she laid her head on her mother's shoulder. The woman smiled and walked off.

"You heard that?" Naruto asked his team as he turned around. "You're doing an awesome job."

"Still boring, we're not having fun at all," Kenji complained.

"Then make it more fun." Naruto grinned. "The first to be at the end of the street, painting the last box-" This got their attention, "gets to pick the next mission."

"Oh, I'm going to be first!" Eri immediately yelled.

"But if your painting isn't nice enough you'll lose points."

-x-

"I can't believe Ryomaru won," Kenji muttered.

"Well, done Ryomaru-kun," Eri praised her teammate as she sat down.

Ryomaru, slightly red in the face sat down beside Eri.

"So, why did you choose this place, sensei?" Eri looked up to Naruto as he sat down opposite her.

"I figured Ichiraku wouldn't do it…"

"Quite right, genius," Kenji said softly.

"I heard that, Kenji. And I have actually never been here before."

"It looks new. So cosy and small," Eri said while looking around.

"All that matters is that they have good food."

"Um, Kenji…" Kenji looked up to Ryomaru. "Doesn't your grandmother have a restaurant?"

"Yes," he answered shortly.

"Really? I didn't know that." Naruto turned to Kenji.

"Because it's not important." Kenji crossed his arms and looked the other way.

Naruto opened his mouth and then closed it again. He looked over to Ryomaru and Eri. "If I continue this conversation… will that fall under the promise?"

Eri and Ryomaru looked at each other. Kenji quickly turned around to. "It will. You will be trying to say something funny –which it is not!- what would make it belong to the-"

"I think it will be fine," Eri said.

Kenji stiffened up. "What? No, what are you saying?"

Eri grinned. "I think you need to be… pushed around a little by sensei every now and then. It loosens you up."

"If only a little," Ryomaru added.

Kenji grumbled and Naruto smiled. "Well, you're lucky this time, Kenji, I don't remember what we were talking about."

His team sweat dropped while Naruto's hand went to the back of his neck.

Naruto let his hand fall down and looked up to the door. "How did they know…" His eyes narrowed and looked over to his team. "Does this have to do with Gamatebukuro's sudden disappearance?"

"What does?" Eri turned to look over to the door too, only then realizing what Naruto had heard.

Sasuke and Akira came stepping into the room, walking straight to them.

"Hey Akira-kun," Naruto greeted, waiting for Sasuke to come and sit next to him so he could greet him properly.

"Please, no ki-" Kenji's face fell as he watched the two kiss. Ryomaru was looking over to Akira, who sat down beside him. "Hey Akira-kun, did you take a look at the book I gave you?"

"I did!" A medical conversation started.

"Sasuke-sama, you got some free time coming up?" Eri asked. Sasuke looked down at her. "Because we could use some cool mission with you!"

"The promise you made with Naruto does not concern me." Sasuke looked the other way, staring at Naruto.

"Don't look at me like that, I didn't promise them anything." Naruto held up his hands.

Sasuke looked down at the bandaged hand. "You didn't even do anything today-"

"I did!" Naruto interjected.

"You didn't, sensei," Eri told him.

Sasuke took Naruto's left hand in his. "And you still manage to open up the wound."

"I know, it opens up so easily."

Sasuke started to undo the bandage around Naruto's hand.

"Why do you think that is? You've always been… wild," Eri said. "But it never opened up this fast."

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it's just more sensitive."

Sasuke pulled off the bandage and put it into his pocket. Then he looked over to Ryomaru. "Umu, you got some bandages?"

Ryomaru looked up startled. "H-hai!" He began looking through his medical pouch.

"You should stop calling them by their family names," Naruto told Sasuke.

Sasuke was looking down at Naruto's hand. His thumb and index finger were complete, his own flesh. His middle finger was only halfway done. The ring finger was not there, along with the pinkie. It even missed a part of his hand there.

"Does it still hurt?" Eri asked, looking with horror to the hand.

"I can handle it."

"Better not use your chakra for a while." Sasuke took the bandages from Ryomaru and wrapped it around the hand, while the orange fingers disappeared. "Maybe it will close faster."

Half an hour later they were happily eating and in conversation. Sasuke leant over to Naruto to whisper something to him.

"You haven't told them yet?"

Naruto grinned. "No, still thinking for a way to bypass my promise before I tell them."

"You'll not find one."

"We'll see."

"What are you whispering? It's rude to whisper when being in a company." Eri leant closer. "Was it something we're not supposed to hear?"

"Um, Eri, maybe you should stop asking," Kenji told her, afraid of what the answer might be. Last time something similar had happened, Sasuke began to tell what he had just whispered to Naruto, making their ears glow red. Not wanting the same thing to happen again, Kenji tried to shush Eri.

"He wouldn't do the same inside a restaurant." She looked over to Akira.

"I'm not so sure," Kenji said while looking up to Sasuke.

Eri began to doubt too now, seeing Sasuke's face. "I don't need to know."

Sasuke smirked, kind of evilly, so Eri and Kenji backed off; glad they had made the right decision.

-xXx-

Naruto was humming while taking a shower. He really liked it that his hand was almost complete. He brushed both hands through his hair, soaping it thoroughly.

Then the door opened and Sasuke came in.

"You're back," Naruto said happily, his tail swirling behind him in anticipation seeing the raven again. "How was the mission?" Naruto peeked around the curtain to where Sasuke was staring at him.

Sasuke had been away on an ANBU mission for almost a week, and Naruto had missed Sasuke quite a bit.

"Okay, I guess." Sasuke was looking very dirty and ruffled.

Naruto turned back to the water and started humming again, waiting for Sasuke to join him.

He was just washing away some soap from his ear when he felt a cold hand on his back. He shrieked softly at the cold touch. He started to turn around, but Sasuke put both his hands around Naruto's stomach, stopping him from turning.

"Don't move."

Naruto smiled and wrapped his tail around one of Sasuke's arms, beginning to clean his muddy arms with his tail.

"You're making your tail dirty."

"While cleaning your arm," Naruto countered. "You're all covered in mud. What did you have to do? Save someone from a mudslide?"

Sasuke didn't answer, not telling Naruto anything about his mission.

Naruto pried Sasuke's arms off his stomach, and turned around to clean more of Sasuke, when his eyes widened in shock.

"What happened?"

Sasuke tried to turn Naruto back around, but Naruto resisted. After a short struggle, Naruto won.

"What happened?" he asked again, looking down Sasuke's torso.

Sasuke's left side was completely bruised, purple, blue and what other colour. It reached from his hip up to his ribs.

"Are you all right? Why didn't you tell me?" Naruto looked up angry and concerned.

"I just showed you."

"Did you break anything?" Naruto looked back to Sasuke's side; it really was extremely colourful and painful looking.

"Two ribs."

"What?"

"Just two broken ribs, that's all. A medic already took a look at it; it's fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Naruto."

Naruto looked back up into Sasuke's eyes. He unconsciously gripped his tail. Slowly he brought his hand up and started cleaning the rest of Sasuke, staying out of reach of the tender looking flesh.

"It still looks very painful," Naruto couldn't help himself, he just didn't like to see Sasuke hurt.

"Don't worry, it's nothing."

"Nothing? You call this nothing?" Naruto let his tail go, and pointed to the black and blue body called Sasuke. He waved his hands so roughly that drops of water flew through the shower in ways they normally didn't. "Even if a medic took a look at it, it's not healed at once. It must still hurt."

"You call this painful while you have grown back almost an entire arm?"

"But…" Naruto lowered his hand. "But that looks so much more…" Naruto vaguely waved to Sasuke's ribs.

Sasuke raised his eyebrows. "More what?"

"More…" Naruto was obviously looking for the right words, and it took him quite a while. "But it's you!" Naruto finally decided to say.

Sasuke stared back; Naruto looked up to his eyes.

Silence, and then…

Sasuke started laughing softly. "Honestly, you keep amazing me."

"Why?" Naruto asked curiously.

Sasuke was still sniggering. "Haha, ouch, ah." He wrapped his arm around his side.

"Laughing hurts, you shouldn't laugh," Naruto told him, moving around Sasuke, unsure of what to do to help him. This only made Sasuke want to laugh more.

"Ah, ouch."

"Stop laughing!" Naruto told him again, almost nervously.

Sasuke laid his hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Hn." Naruto finally stopped moving, and Sasuke could stop laughing.

"Are you sure you are okay?" Naruto asked once more.

Sasuke didn't answer; he just turned around and left the shower.

"Wait, I'll help!"

Before Sasuke could even reach for a towel, Naruto was in front of him with one in hand.

"I'm not an invalid," Sasuke told Naruto, his eyes narrowed.

Naruto pretended not to hear and started drying Sasuke's hair, while he started humming some tune, his tail curling and uncurling behind him.

After some struggling on both sides (Sasuke trying to do things himself, and Naruto trying to do it for him) Sasuke was finally dried off, and walked into their bedroom before Naruto could stop him.

"Wait, you need to be bandaged."

"Hn?"

"It must hurt." Naruto softly gripped Sasuke's arm and guided him to the bed. He placed Sasuke on the bed and went away to get some bandages.

When he got back, Sasuke was still waiting on the bed for him, but he had changed the towel for some underwear (must have cost him some trouble to get that on).

Naruto sat down, kneeling next to him; he slowly got closer to Sasuke's midriff, and inspected the enormous bruise covering Sasuke's left side.

Sasuke glanced down while Naruto took in every inch.

"You have seen bruises before."

"I have."

"It's not like you've never been bruised."

"Correct." Naruto looked up to meet Sasuke's eyes, looking down curiously. "So?"

"So?" Sasuke repeated.

"Why do you ask?" Naruto tilted his head a little.

"You look at me like you never have."

"Well, I've never seen _you_ this bruised before."

"Hn." Sasuke turned his head away.

"I just don't want to hurt you when I bandage you, or later today," Naruto spoke softly. Sasuke looked down at him.

Naruto took the bandage and very, very gently began to wrap it around Sasuke's torso. Sasuke couldn't help but smile when he saw the serious look on Naruto's face. He really was trying not to hurt him.

Sometimes he paused for a while; apparently his orange chakra fingers weren't always as gentle as Naruto wanted them to be.

To be honest, Sasuke knew he could have done this a lot faster on his own, even though it would probably take him a while too with his bruised side. However, he didn't mind Naruto taking so long. He liked Naruto taking care of him.

"I'm not hurting you?" Naruto asked once more.

"No."

Naruto glanced up, to see Sasuke smile at him. "What?"

"Nothing."

Naruto stopped bandaging and straightened up. "What?"

"Nothing."

Naruto pouted. "Tell me, Sasuke. What?"

Sasuke didn't answer; the only answer was that same smile.

"I get it," Naruto huffed, still pouting. He returned to the bandaging and carefully put it around Sasuke's side once more.

Eventually Naruto finished, after inspecting his work thoroughly before he was satisfied.

Sasuke stood up and walked over to the closet, getting out some clothes.

"Wait, I'll help." Naruto pushed Sasuke's hand aside before he could grip some pants. Sasuke let his hand drop; he was slowly getting used to this.

"You're overreacting."

"Am not." Naruto held up the pants and pointed to a shirt. "Is that one okay?" He looked up to Sasuke questioningly.

"Sure." Naruto turned back, and Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"You don't have any ANBU missions soon, have you?" Naruto asked worried as he turned back from the closet and closed it.

"Who knows?"

"You can't tell me?" Naruto asked a little insulted.

"We are mostly contacted about a mission a few days before. So I really don't know."

"Oh." Naruto stood a little dumbfounded with Sasuke's pants in front of him. "Ah, so."

Sasuke couldn't help but laugh softly. "I thought you knew."

"I- I do!" Naruto closed his eyes and lifted his head slightly. "Sit down." Sasuke did so, carefully.

"I feel like a child," Sasuke told Naruto as Naruto was dressing him.

"You're hurt, this is different." Naruto took the navy shirt from the bed and pulled it over Sasuke's head, but stopped there.

"What?" he asked again, but this time he was smiling, not looking confused.

"You like taking care of me?"

Naruto's eyebrows rose ever so slightly. "I know you like it," was Naruto's answer, followed by a kiss.

"I do," Sasuke answered when their lips parted.

"That's all the reason I need."

Suddenly Sasuke put his arms around Naruto and pulled him to him. Obviously Sasuke had miscalculated this action a little; he had thought Naruto had expected him to do this. So when he pulled Naruto to him, the blond lost balance and fell on top of him.

"Aaaah," came the almost silent sound from Sasuke, filled with pain.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Naruto immediately apologized, trying to get off Sasuke.

Sasuke made a face, but Naruto couldn't laugh at it. "I'm so sorry, are you all right? Should I-"

"I'm fine." Sasuke didn't got up yet, he just stayed laying on the bed, still aching.

Naruto looked at him and saw his dark eyes close. The blond watched him for a bit longer before he lay down beside Sasuke and curled up against his side. Slowly his hand moved up until it rested on Sasuke's shoulder.

"You smell so good," he suddenly said. "So…" Naruto stopped talking, closed his eyes and sniffed Sasuke a couple of times.

"So?" Sasuke asked.

"So you," Naruto said as if that made perfect sense, which it did.

-x-

"Does it still hurt?" Akira asked. He was standing next to Sasuke, who was sitting on the couch.

"Hn."

"Did it help a little?" Akira had promised Sasuke he would make a special meal that would help him heal. Akiharu had apparently done so for Akira too once, and according to Akira it had done wonders.

"It-" Sasuke looked up Naruto, who was standing behind Akira, and nodding at him. "It did."

"Really?"

"Su- Yes."

Akira happily climbed up the couch to sit down next to Sasuke. "Shall I then show you my new book?" Akira picked up a book from the ground, opening it.

Sasuke almost wanted to sigh, but then decided against it. Instead a small smile showed on his face. "Okay."

Excitedly Akira began to tell Sasuke what he could see on every page of the book. After a few pages, Sasuke pulled Akira closer, so he could hold up the side of Akira's book closest to him on his lap. His arm folded around Akira, holding up the other side, so Akira could point at pictures as much as he wanted.

Kou lay sleeping on Akira's shoulder, softly making squeaking sounds every once in a while.

Over in the kitchen, Naruto stood behind the sink, looking down at a recipe Sakura had given. She had actually given it to Sasuke, but he shouldn't be cooking anything right now.

Looking over the list of ingredients, Naruto checked if they had everything. Having checked everything he concluded they had it all. Getting a bowl, he started preparing the first part of the recipe.

He would soon find out why Sakura had given Sasuke the list, and not him.

Sasuke and Akira looked up when they heard clattering and some curse words coming from the kitchen.

"Naruto!" Sasuke warned Naruto.

"Sorry, sorry!" Naruto's head came around the corner. "Won't say it again."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Is that… tomato sauce in your hair?"

"What?" Naruto moved his hand up to his hair.

"What are you doing?"

Naruto grinned. "Nothing."

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked once more.

"Um… making something?" Naruto showed Sasuke his teeth.

Sasuke handed Akira his book back, and slowly tried to stand up.

"No, you should stay sitting." Naruto came walking into the living room, covered in more sauce and… other foods?

"Naruto! What have you been doing?"

"Calm down, I'll clean up everything."

"Is that lettuce?" Sasuke pointed to Naruto's shoulder. "How did it get-" Sasuke stopped. "I think I don't want to know."

Naruto looked down at his shoulder. "Ah, hè, will you look at that," he grinned.

"Stop grinning." Sasuke walked past Naruto.

"Ah, no, stop!" Naruto tried to stop Sasuke before he could reach the kitchen, but was too late.

Sasuke's mouth fell open when he witnessed the crime scene. Looking around, he couldn't even bring out a single word.

"I told you I would clean up later. Besides, it's not that bad."

"Not that…" Sasuke turned to look at Naruto. "There's God knows what stuck to the ceiling, sauce on the floor, you even managed to get dough… on the outside of the window?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes, looking at the kitchen window.

Naruto turned to look at the window as well. "Ah, that was an accident. Besides, it's not dough." His teeth were visible once more.

"Then what is- Naruto? What were you even trying to make?"

Naruto blinked. He pointed to some pot on the stove, which was boiling over. "Applesauce."

Sasuke was speechless.

"Oh," Naruto finally noticed the pan boiling over and hurried toward it, "oops."

"Applesauce?" Sasuke asked, looking at the red stains on the floor, the… not-dough on the window, and lettuce on Naruto's shoulder. "What did you do?"

"I followed… the recipe?"

"What recipe?"

"The one that Sakura gave you."

"Sakura…" Sasuke thought this over. Sakura hadn't given him a recipe for applesauce at all.

Naruto looked around the mess he'd made and finally found the piece of paper, showing it to Sasuke.

Sasuke could hardly read what was supposed to be written on it, as dirty as it was, but it certainly wasn't a recipe, and Sakura did not write it either. Her handwriting was much nicer than this… "Isn't that your own handwriting?" he asked Naruto.

Naruto, blinking, took the paper back, and studied it. "Hm, now that you say-"

"Naruto! It's a groceries list I let you make!"

"Oh… Oooooh," he said understandingly. "Now I remember."

"How did you ever think this was a recipe?"

"But is says… look," Naruto turned the paper to Sasuke.

Sasuke pushed it away from his face. "Never mind." He shook his head. "Just… just clean it all up."

Naruto looked back at the paper. "It does explain why I needed toilet paper," he said softly.

Sasuke froze up. "You put… No wait, don't tell me what you did with it." He walked away, holding his hand over his face. "Unbelievable."

Naruto shrugged, turning around to the kitchen. "I think it might have tasted not that bad." He opened the pot on the stove and an evil smell came up from it. On the bottom of the pot rested some purple goo. "Hm, that doesn't look that awful." He moved his arm into the pot, ready to taste some of the content.

"And don't you dare try to taste it!"

Naruto pouted, getting his hand out of the pan.

-xXx-

"I got a new mission for you," Naruto told his team as they walked down the streets of Konoha.

"You didn't even leave… did you?" Eri asked, afraid she had missed it.

"I didn't." Naruto grinned. "It's actually a mission from me."

"You give us a mission?"

"Correct." Naruto paused. "A training mission."

"Is that possible?" Eri asked Ryomaru.

"I don't know, never heard someone giving his team a training mission."

"I don't see why he shouldn't." Kenji crossed his arms.

"True."

"So, can I tell you, or is the discussion not over yet?" Naruto asked his students.

"You can."

"Okay. This is the mission." A foxy grin was plastered on his face.

"Uh oh."

"No pranking, sensei! No jokes, you promised."

"I'm not going to, I swear."

Some narrowed dark green, black and yellow eyes stared at him.

-x-

The papers were heavy, a box filled with finished missions. It needed to be taken to the archive.

"I wonder why she's asked us to do this. Aren't there any genin teams at hand?"

"It's bad for their young backs."

Koketsu looked over to Izumo. "Really? That's all you could come up with?"

"All the reason I need."

Koketsu rolled his eyes.

Then, crossing their path, came team 9. They walked up to them.

"You-" Izumo said, pointing to Naruto.

Naruto grinned. He held up his hand. "Hey there." He waved.

"You're not planning on letting us trip, do you?" Koketsu asked suspiciously.

"I wouldn't dare. I would have to sort through all those papers all over again."

"Again?"

"Who do you think put them in those boxes?"

Izumo looked around the box to Naruto. "I can't believe you would do something like that."

"I did."

"Strange."

"Ah, yes, my team and I-"

"They're just like you," Koketsu muttered, heaving the box up to his chest, inspecting the children.

"Really?" Naruto looked down to his students proudly.

"So, what did you came to tell?"

"Ah, Tsunade sent a message." Naruto said.

"Hokage-sama," Ryomaru told him, but Naruto ignored him.

"She, eh, said we should tell you that she forgot to mention that you…" Eri said slowly.

"What?" Koketsu snapped, afraid of what Eri was about to say.

"She wants you to transport more," Eri said quickly, pointed to the box in Koketsu's arms.

"What?" His mouth fell open. "More still?"

"Don't believe them." Izumo told him.

"She really has a lot of work coming, and needs to make room for the upcoming papers." Kenji said gruffly. He didn't agree on this training mission at all, but Naruto had somehow talked him over to do it. He was still wondering how he had done that.

"I don't believe-" Koketsu started.

"P-paperwork," Ryomaru stuttered, turning red and looking away. He couldn't believe he was cooperating on this for a 'training mission'.

"What?" Izumo asked the tall boy.

"She said something about paperwork too," Eri explained. "When you get back-"

"NOOO!" Koketsu let the box drop to the ground; a few papers flew out of the box.

Izumo placed his hand on Koketsu's shoulder. "Calm down."

"No, I've had it!" He folded his arms.

Ryomaru couldn't take it anymore. "I'm s-so sorry!" He bowed to the two. He should have never agreed that this was a training mission; it was just a way for his sensei to play a prank!

"For what?"

Ryomaru turned bright red.

"Ryomaru-kun! You're ruining it!" Eri told him, still convinced this was a training mission.

Kenji sighed, glad it was over.

"Aw, Ryomaru, you still got a lot to learn," Naruto told him. "But you're improving."

Koketsu and Izumo looked stunned from one genin to the other till finally meeting Naruto's eyes, sparkling mischievously.

"You didn't-" Izumo started, realizing they had been fooled.

"Wha-? Do you know what you just did to my heart?" Koketsu said. He actually looked a bit overworked, now that Naruto took a closer look.

"Oh, come on, you're just making it too easy," Naruto told him, his tail swaying around.

"Sensei? Are we done?" Kenji asked, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, I finally got my payback for them telling Anko to call me Naru-chan."

"Wha-? You said this was a training mission!" Eri said shocked.

"You knew about that?" Izumo asked, ignoring Eri.

"I found out, yes."

"Kakashi, I swear-" Koketsu growled. "I told you she would tell him, and he's too close to Naruto!" he told Izumo.

"Doesn't matter. That was our payback for you telling Hokage-sama we love guard-duty."

Naruto looked at them silently. "Oh, yeah, I forgot." He grinned.

"You forgot-?" Koketsu's face fell. "Thanks to you we had been sitting at that gate for almost three months," he fumed.

"Sensei?" Eri said, telling her sensei she didn't agree with what he had done. "You promi-"

"I'm sorry, I didn't really think-" Naruto apologized to Koketsu, ignoring Eri too.

"That she would do that?" It almost looked like steam was coming out of Koketsu's ears.

"Calm down, Koketsu," Izumo laid his hand on his friend's shoulder.

"I will talk to her again, okay?" Naruto asked innocently. "I'll make her send you on some interesting missions, ne?"

The two looked up to him. "You can do that?" Izumo asked in disbelief.

"Of course."

Silence fell for a moment.

"Okay," Koketsu said slowly. "That's okay."

"Good," Naruto agreed.

"Don't think you're off the hook now," Izumo told him. Naruto grinned back.

"Hai, hai."

Koketsu picked the box up and started walking again.

"I can't believe you, sensei!" Eri said, looking up angrily.

Naruto shrugged.

"You promised not to joke-"

"I did, and I kept it."

"No, you didn't!"

"I didn't say anything to them that was part of a joke."

Eri thought this over.

"You made us do it," Ryomaru said softly.

"I told you it was training."

"Training to play jokes?"

"Training to lie. So-"

"Lie? Why would we want to do that?" Eri asked, her hands resting in her sides.

Naruto looked down to his students, looking very serious. "I know lying is not a good thing, but sometimes on a mission things can go very wrong. Sometimes a lie is what you need to tell to save a mission."

"Example," Kenji ordered.

"For example when you are protecting a client, you want to comfort them. If they panic who knows what will happen. Even if you know things aren't going well, you tell them otherwise."

"Okay, but that's not really…"

"If I capture Kenji," Naruto wrapped his arm around Kenji's throat. Immediately Kenji tried to get free. "I tell you to answer my question." Naruto pulled out a kunai and brought it up to Kenji's throat. "Where did you hide the information?" He asked very convincingly.

Eri and Ryomaru first took a step to him, before taking one back when the kunai came closer to Kenji's neck.

"You will have to tell me a very convincing lie, or else Kenji could die." He let go of Kenji and put the kunai away. Finally his team understood where he was taking this.

"You wanted cool missions." Naruto straightened up. His tail had stopped swaying a while ago. "Cool missions also mean that the risk of anything going wrong becomes bigger. Until now you only had D and C rank missions. The B rank mission we had was a joined one with a team that has a lot more experience."

Naruto lowered himself, looking at his team. "I hope you know what you're in for."

They slowly nodded.

"Good, because otherwise I wouldn't have let you take part in the upcoming chuunin exams."

It was silent for a few seconds.

"Chuunin exams?"

"WHAT?" Eri yelled. "You didn't!" She jumped around Naruto's neck, making him loose his balance. They both fell back.

"I can't believe it," Kenji muttered. "Finally."

"Yes, I believe you're ready. Last time I wasn't here, so Sakura-chan didn't let you take part in it, but…" He sat up again, Eri still hugging him. He couldn't make her let go of his chest. "You've been ready for some time now."

Ryomaru and Kenji looked at each other. "You hear that?"

Ryomaru smiled at Kenji, and nodded.

"We are going to make you proud!" Kenji turned to Naruto.

"I already am."

"Oh, oh, where is it?" Eri asked, leaning back, but still not letting go of Naruto.

"Hmm, should I tell?"

"No jokes," Kenji warned.

"Why would I? This is important." Naruto took out some forms from a front pocket of his green vest. "It's all on this paper. You will need to sign it."

Eri had taken her form before Naruto had finished his sentence. "Kirigakure. We are going to the land of Water!"

"We'll be leaving in a month, so prepare yourself for some difficult training sessions à la Sasuke, and missions that might make you want to cry."

"That doesn't really sound like something to look forward to," Ryomaru mutter while Kenji tried to pull Eri off Naruto.

"I can't believe we might become chuunin!" Eri said, not letting go of Naruto.

"Eri! What if Sasuke-sama comes by?" Kenji asked, pulling at her arm.

"He will just have to share."

Kenji let go of Eri. "Aargh- ew! Eri!" Naruto started laughing loudly as he watched Kenji walk back, his hands covering his ears and his eyes closed. "Bah!"

"Haha! Kenji, you are too young to think of things like that."

The other two looked up confused, no idea what the other two were talking about.

Naruto calmed down and stood up. Eri finally let go. "Let's go see if we can score another mission for today."

-x-

"I told them," Naruto said to Sasuke, as they were lying on the couch together. Akira was already in bed.

Somehow Sasuke understood what Naruto was talking about. "You finally accepted that you couldn't figure a way around your promise."

"I actually did figure out a way," Naruto grinned. His arms pulled Sasuke closer to him carefully, his side was still healing.

"Hn."

"Hadn't expected that, huh?" Naruto let his head lean against Sasuke's.

Sasuke didn't say anything, just leant back against Naruto.

"They were very happy."

"Hm." Sasuke closed his eyes, turning his head to the side, using Naruto's chest as a pillow.

"I think it is time for them to take part of the exams." Naruto sniffed Sasuke's hair and curled his tail around Sasuke.

"So, what's the plan? How are you going to prepare them? The exams are already over a month," Sasuke asked, closing his eyes, moving his face softly over Naruto's chest.

"I'll make sure they get at least C rank missions. Since I promised them cool missions, that's what I have been doing for the last two weeks. Next I got them a B-rank mission. And of course harsh training." Naruto stroked through Sasuke's hair. "Maybe, since you need rest, you could pass by. Or at least tell me what you think would be perfect training. You always come up with such good ideas."

Sasuke gasped softly as he moved his chest a bit in the wrong direction, his ribs objecting. He gripped Naruto's orange shirt. "We'll see."

"Great, Maybe you got time tomorrow? Bring Akira-kun along."

Sasuke didn't answer. He began stroking Naruto's chest, drawing circles.

Naruto smiled at the action, and softly began to purr.

After almost half an hour of silence, only purring in the air, Sasuke spoke up. "When will you have to leave?"

"A couple of days before the exams start. They want all the teams that participate to gather the day before the actual start."

"How long," Sasuke asked sadly.

"Then didn't say much about that, but it will probably take at the very least two weeks. Shikamaru said he heard it could take up to a month, depending on the periods between the tasks."

"A month?" Sasuke asked shocked.

"Shh, calm down, you'll hurt yourself," Naruto said, holding Sasuke in place as he had began to move.

"That's so long."

"I'll be back…. Besides," Naruto grinned, "I can always sneak out for a short time."

"You would be gone for so long, just to travel, you wouldn't be able to do that. You need to go by boat remember?" Sasuke said softly.

"Oh, right, I forgot, land of Water," Naruto sniggered.

"Hn." Sasuke whined.

"Don't worry, Sasuke, you'll be busy too with Akira-kun."

Sasuke smiled. "He'll be going to school soon."

"So you need him with his homework, pick him up from school, he probably wants you to train him, _and_ you will have to do missions somewhere between all that."

Sasuke's arms moved around Naruto's chest. "He's growing so fast."

"Indeed."

"Good thing you don't, I like you like this."

Naruto frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Only good things."

"Only good things?" Naruto asked confused.

Sasuke smirked.

"Only good things…" Naruto repeated. And then his face fell. "Eh? You're not saying…"

Sasuke tried to look up to Naruto without moving his head to much. "Hn? What are you thinking now?" Naruto always had a way of over thinking and surprising Sasuke with his (stupid) findings.

"Only good things come in small…" Naruto grumbled softly.

Silence, Naruto had stopped purring. Until Sasuke burst out laughing, combined with some groans of pain.

"What? That's what you meant, didn't you?" Naruto asked, frowning, not happy.

"Haha, ah, no, haha, ouch."

"Really?"

"I meant only good things come from you."

"Oh… That sounds better like that."

"It's what I said." Sasuke sniggered, lying down again. "Just listen, don't try to think too much. You know I try to make things easy for you."

"Muh…"

Sasuke looked up, and kissed Naruto. "Don't worry, I love you no matter what strange things you say or think."

"Well, that's a relief."

"Indeed." Sasuke cuddled Naruto, moving his cheek over Naruto's chest. "You can start purring again, I like how it vibrates through your chest."

"You have to stimulate it," Naruto grinned.

"Ah, but that's no problem at all," Sasuke smirked.

-oXo-

A/N: Just a few chapters left... according to my planning... which has already changed, adding an extra chapter... I really should write again, finishing the story. I think I'll do so today ;)

And as always: thank you MS3923 for beta-ing, and thank you reviewers, favs, story alerts and all readers :D


	36. Chapter 36: They grow up so fast

Whoa... I'm still alive! I'm sorry for the (very, very) long wait. I was either very busy, or had no inspiration for writing :( And... um... I honestly forgot to post this chapter! (I finished it over a month ago...) Thank you kiki2222 for reminding me about posting this ;)

And of course thank you readers & reviewers and, of course, my beta :)

-oXo-

**Chapter 36: They grow up so fast**

_13__th__ of March_

"I'm afraid."

"Ah, Sceri is back."

"I said, I'm afraid," Eri's angry voice told Kenji.

"I-it will be alright, Eri-chan," Ryomaru tried to comfort her, as nervous as he was.

"I'm so excited."

Kenji looked over to the side where Eri was lined up beside him. "Which is it?"

"I don't know. I think I'm happy too." Eri looked around the enormous stadium they were standing in. The stands to their sides were filled; all senseis and other ninjas were looking down upon them. She looked to her left, at Ryomaru, who looked anxiously around at the overwhelming sight. "This is so, so…" Eri was shaking from joy.

"Shh," Kenji shushed her. "Don't act like this is our first time."

"It is our first time." Suddenly Eri stopped looking around and her mouth opened. "It's sensei, he's right over there!" she pointed to the stands.

This earned Eri some angry glares from some surrounding genins. Waving happily, almost jumping, both Kenji and Ryomaru tried to calm her down, neither wanting the attention.

In the stands Naruto saw Eri waving and held up his hand, waving back at her. A jounin sensei with orange hair combed mostly to one side of his face who stood in front of Naruto also noticed the girl waving in their direction.

"Look at that girl. She obviously is in the wrong place. Maybe she doesn't know school is on the other side of the village."

"Yeah," the dark man beside him sniggered. "Well, at least she and her team will be wiped out in the first exam. They won't last five minutes."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Excuse me, could you move aside, my student is waving at me," he said, pushing the two fazed men aside. "You go for it!" He yelled so loudly that the two men closed their eyes.

Ryomaru turned bright red, Kenji pretended not to have noticed, and Eri smiled broadly.

Naruto grinned. "Thank you," he told the men, twitching his ears playfully before moving back, crossing his arms. He was proud of his team, and no one could take that pride away.

The Mizukage walked onto a podium, her long red hair waving behind her. She stopped at the balustrade, looking down upon the gathered genin participating this year's exam.

Silence fell as everyone noticed that the Mizukage had arrived.

She closely looked around over the genin before she spoke. "I am very delighted that so many genins have come to the chuunin exams this year." She lowered her head slightly, looking almost stern. "We will make sure only the best will be able to become chuunin, so I wish you all luck." Then she smiled and turned away.

Eri leaned over to Ryomaru. "She's really beautiful."

Ryomaru nodded. "And a bit scary."

Eri looked slightly confused. "I thought she was really…" Her face showed a smile as she turned her head to the Mizukage. "She looked very strong, and like she is a great leader."

Ryomaru didn't dare to say anything after Eri's confession. He was afraid she might snap at him if he did.

A man came walking up to the genin with a scroll in hand.

"Ahem," he coughed to get everyone's attention. "For the first exam, all genin and their senseis will be expected to meet at the training in sector G5. Everything for that exam will be explained then and there by your senseis." Then he closed the scroll and looked up to where the Mizukage was still watching over the young shinobi. The man nodded to her before walking away.

"I officially start the exams," the Mizukage said. And then, to everyone's surprise, she bowed. "I bow to our future. May you make all of us shinobi and kunoichi proud by advancing and becoming a

ninja that will protect your country." After a mysterious curl of the lips that might have been seen as a smile, she left the podium.

It took a while before the genin finally dared to speak up and talk to one another after that.

Eri was practically beaming. She was shaking.

"Are you still scared?" Kenji asked concerned.

Eri turned to Kenji, and then he saw her face, all happy and excited. "I want to be like her!"

-x-

Sasuke woke up inside an empty bed. He looked down next to him, showing no sign of anyone having slept there before he looked up to the sound that had woken him up.

Thump.

Checking the time, noticing it was just 5:30 in the morning, Sasuke got out of bed and walked over to Akira's room. Rubbing his eyes, he opened the door to the boy's bedroom. "What are you doing?"

Somewhat confused, Akira stepped out of his closet wearing nothing beside his underwear and a pants on his head.

When he got no answer, just a sleepy stare, Sasuke took a step closer. "Akira?"

Still no answer. Akira only turned away from him.

"Are you nervous about today? Can't you sleep?" He walked up to the boy and softly took his arm, turning him around. "Akira?"

"What to wear?" Akira asked sleepily.

Sasuke just stared. Was he… sleepwalking?

"You know what? I will find you something to wear and you just go back to bed and sleep for a bit more."

Akira nodded and walked away. Sasuke grasped one of the legs of the pants on Akira's head and pulled it off. Akira just stepped into bed and slept on.

After having put the pants away and taking out some clothes for Akira to wear, Sasuke walked out of the bedroom and went downstairs.

He probably couldn't sleep anyway. He was used to getting out of bed early.

Sitting at the kitchen table, eating his breakfast, Sasuke smiled. He hadn't stood up this early only for missions lately. Somehow Naruto made him stay in bed longer. He kind of missed getting up this early, sitting alone in the kitchen and listening to all the birds sing. Taking his tea, he stood up and walked over to the living room, where he opened the sliding doors to the porch and leant against one of the posts.

Every once in a while he liked being alone. He had been alone for so long. He liked the quiet peaceful nature. Maybe he should go for a walk before Akira would wake up.

-x-

Eri was skipping beside Naruto as they went over to the area called G5.

"She was so cool, so… she stayed so cool and beautiful. It was like she said, I would always protect you, but if you ever hurt someone in my country I will behead you. She was just radiating… coolness, even her eyes, so cool and level, and-"

"Let me guess, cool?" Kenji muttered, by now having heard enough of Eri's new idol. "I thought they were more plain cold than cool." Luckily for him, Eri hadn't heard.

Ryomaru just kept nodding to everything Eri said.

"I bet she would be able to beat Hokage-sama."

Kenji and Ryomaru turned to Eri, and both stopped walking. Eri noticed this and looked around to the other two. Naruto stopped too, looking down upon his team.

"What?" Kenji asked Eri. "You think she would defeat Hokage-sama?"

Eri crossed her arms. "I do."

Ryomaru gasped, but didn't dare to say anything as he saw the tension between his two teammates rise.

Kenji narrowed his eyes. "You do?" he asked, almost muttering from anger and disbelief.

Eri stayed strong and straightened her back. A short, but firm nod proved he had heard right.

Kenji stepped up to her, reaching for her collar, but Naruto took his outstretched hand and stopped the fight.

While Ryomaru tried to think over what had happened, and figure out that Naruto had indeed been standing a few meters along instead of between Eri and Kenji, Eri and Kenji looked up to their blond sensei.

"It doesn't matter which baa-chan would be able to win from the other. Not right now. You need to focus on the exam and the team."

Eri and Kenji exchanged looks, both narrowing their eyes at the other. Then a hand hit their heads painfully, making them look up to their sensei. Wanting to protest, Eri had already opened her mouth, and Kenji wasn't far behind, until they saw the look on Naruto's face.

"This is like a mission; you need to put your differences aside." Then he smiled. "I want to tell Sasuke what great genins I have. Oh, wait… chuunins."

Muttering ever so softly Kenji and Eri nodded and put their discussion aside. Slightly blushing by the praise they walked on.

-x-

Sasuke pulled the black shirt with the Uchiha crest on the back over Akira's head.

"And then I dreamt I had nothing to wear, because everything else was in the laundry. And then at school, Akane wasn't there, I was all alone. So the sensei said he didn't want to teach just one student, and he left the room. And then I had to go home, but I didn't wanted to. And then you became angry because I could not go to the academy for another year and-"

"Calm down, Akira," Sasuke said, pulling a comb through the dark hair.

Akira looked up. "You wouldn't be mad, would you? If I couldn't go to the academy this year?"

"That would never happen, Akira. There are a lot of kids that need to go to the academy this year. At least there were a lot of parents when I had to go to the academy for that information evening."

Akira blinked.

Then Sasuke put the comb away and looked down to Akira. "Of course I wouldn't be mad for something like that."

Akira smiled.

Then he ran off. "Can we have pancakes for breakfast?" Kou followed behind him, getting off the closet he had been sitting on all this time.

Sasuke stood up and followed the boy, shaking his head.

The pancakes Sasuke had made had disappeared so quickly into a small dark hole inside Akira's mouth, that Sasuke would almost believe he hadn't made any pancakes at all. He was quite surprised Akira could eat at all. He had been sure the boy would be so nervous he would have to force feed him even just a little bit.

"Can we go already?" Akira asked when Sasuke was done with the dishes.

"It's not even 7 o'clock yet."

Akira turned to the clock, studying it, before turning back to Sasuke, thinking. "We still have an hour?" he asked. Sasuke nodded. Silence fell once more.

Finally Akira looked up, innocently. "Can we go practice in the garden?"

Sasuke grinned. "Sure."

Again Akira was gone with Kou before Sasuke could put away the last clean plate that he still held in his hand.

-x-

Naruto looked down upon his team as they tried to somehow look over the 3 meter high fence in front of them.

"What's behind it?" Eri asked once more.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I can't tell you," he said.

"But I bet some other senseis will tell their team, to get some advantage."

"Could very well be," Naruto told her, looking down with a serious face.

Eri lit up. "So you can too."

Naruto shook his head. "Can't."

Eri pouted. "Why not?"

Kenji turned to Naruto. "How will anyone know if you told us or not?"

"They won't," his sensei answered.

"Then tell us, quickly, because we need to go in soon," Eri said.

"I will not tell. Besides, you wouldn't really profit from knowing anyway." Naruto started swaying his tail, slightly annoyed by Eri's persistent nature.

"Then it won't hurt to tell us either."

"I-I think there's a forest," Ryomaru suddenly said softly. Eri and Kenji turned to their green haired teammate.

"How so?"

Ryomaru opened his mouth, looked up to Naruto, and closed it again. After a moment of silence he asked nervously, "Is it not?"

Naruto shrugged. "I will not tell."

"Why~?" Eri whined.

Naruto looked down to her. "Eri-chan, I will not teach you how to cheat." He looked sternly at her, which made her stop questioning him.

Slightly grumbling she turned to the closed gate in the fence, waiting for it to open up for them.

After a while Naruto looked down upon a watch. "Alright, listen up."

Eri spun around quickly, hoping Naruto would finally tell.

"All I have to explain to you -and all I know about this exam- is that you need to find your way out of it as fast as you can."

"Out of what?"

Naruto pointed to the fence. "Whatever is behind the fence."

"You still won't tell?" Eri asked sneakily.

Naruto shook his head. "You'll get a day to find the correct exit on the other side of this place."

"I think Ryomaru was right about that this is a forest." Kenji turned to Eri, who was already opening her mouth to talk, but Kenji silenced her by turning his narrow eyes to her. "But more than just a normal forest." Then he turned back to Naruto. "Sensei, how are we supposed to find the correct door on the other side? Are we supposed to get out through a similar gate like we will enter?"

Naruto smiled, liking that Kenji was so quick to catch on to things. "You're right; you will have to find a gate that another team used to enter." Naruto's tail, still swirling behind him, curled around him toward his students. "Ryomaru, hold up your hand."

Ryomaru stiffened up, before shakily raising his hand to Naruto. Naruto smiled at him and his tail moved over Ryomaru's hand. As he did so, Ryomaru felt a warm weight fall into his hand. Looking down they saw-

"A key?" Eri asked.

"There's only one door it fits on."

Ryomaru studied the key, holding it up to his face. It wasn't a special looking key, a greyish metal key.

"Lastly," Naruto continued. "I wish you luck." He smiled. "I'll see you on the other side." He walked to the gate and unlocked it. This reminded him of his own first chuunin exams, where they had to move through the forest of death. This would be different, he knew, but also similar.

Opening the gate he stepped aside so the trio could enter. "Good luck."

Slowly the three walked in, and Naruto closed the door behind them, locking it again.

-x-

Walking proudly a few meters in front of his father, Akira couldn't help but smile. It just wouldn't leave his face. Kou was happily squeaking to him, so Akira petted him.

"I'm so excited Kou-chan. You too?"

No answer came from the small bat, but Akira didn't really care. This was his first day at the academy, his first official school day. From now on he would be training and learning to be a ninja, officially. He would be just like Sasuke and Naruto.

He turned around to Sasuke, seeing him look out over to some trees to their side.

"Tou-chan?"

"Hm?" Sasuke looked down to his little copy.

"What kind of teacher will I get?"

Sasuke shrugged. "I don't know, but I think it will be Ririko-san."

"What is she like?" Akira asked.

Sasuke shrugged again. "Kind, I guess."

Akira understood. "What about Iruka-sensei?"

"He already has a class as far as I know."

"Oh."

"It doesn't matter Akira."

"It doesn't?"

"No, your sensei will teach you everything, regardless of who it will be. All the sensei at the academy are well trained ninja's and know how to teach."

It wasn't exactly the answer Akira had been looking for, and he wasn't sure if he understood what Sasuke was talking about, but he decided to let it pass.

A block before they would come to the academy, Akira waited for Sasuke to reach him. Then he walked beside him.

When Sasuke felt a small hand fumble with his, he knew Akira was more nervous about his first school day then he had let on. Sasuke softly squeezed it while they walked on and the academy came into view.

Walking onto the playground Akira slowly let go of Sasuke's hand. Instead he pulled at Sasuke's shirt.

Sasuke crouched down beside Akira, as he leant to his ear. "Where you nervous at your first school day?" he whispered.

Sasuke nodded. "A little, yes."

Akira's eyes twinkled, happy it wasn't just him.

"Don't tell Naruto, will you?" Sasuke added.

Akira shook his head. "I won't!"

Sasuke smiled. "look, Akane is here."

Akira looked around and was running to Akane but not fast enough for Sasuke to pull his hand over Akira's head. "Have fun today," he said softly as he stood up, knowing Akira wouldn't hear him.

-x-

They had been walking inside some sort of forest for a while now, and were thankful not to have met someone else yet. It was a very interesting forest, not a usual forest. It wasn't like the forest back in Konoha with dangerous or enormous animals. This forest was special because of how the trees were planted and growing. In fact, it was more of a maze than a forest.

All the trees were so close to each other, so that thick walls were created, closed by all sorts of other plants and bushes. The close gaps between big trees were filled by smaller trees. The gaps they left were filled by bushes and if any light could penetrate that, plants grew in between.

The path that was left to walk on was still very narrow and hard to move through. Sometimes branches had grown over the path, making it difficult to go on. A few times they had to cut down the plants to be able to move ahead. Trice until now they had been left to choose between two or more paths to choose from. Every time Kenji carefully considered all the options, trying to find the position of the sun and wind, but Eri had told him that it would be no help.

It was cold, for only little sunlight could reach all the way to the ground. Ryomaru had suggested to move up, to move through the branches where more sunlight came, but Kenji had told them 'no, not yet'. Eri didn't really see the advantage of moving low on the ground as to being able to look around up higher.

"There is also more light there, it's easier to be spotted as well. It's dark down here, hard to see through all the branches. We stay close to the ground for now," Kenji said when Eri asked once more why they shouldn't move up.

Then Ryomaru stopped the other two. "I think we should m-move over here for a while," he said, pointing to a hollow tree. A small ray of light shone through a hole in the bark.

Kenji nodded. Though he wasn't quite sure what Ryomaru wanted, he had a feeling what it might be about. If he was right, then Ryomaru had a point to do this.

Crouched together inside the huge hollow tree, a few scratches from pushing themselves through the narrow crack in the old tree, they looked over to Ryomaru. He was moving quite a bit, in a place where not a lot of space was.

"Ryomaru-kun, what are you doing?" Eri asked slightly annoyed as he squashed her a few times.

Finally he held up the key in his hand, showing it in the small ray of light.

"Oh…" Eri said, looking at the small object.

"You think we should look it over?" Kenji asked Ryomaru.

The green haired boy nodded. "I-I think it might give us some clues as to what kind of lock or door we will be looking for. In a while, when we reach the other side, we will p-probably find a few doors we can choose from."

Kenji nodded. "Yes, according to my calculations, there were about 48 teams at the openings ceremony. That means there will be at least 48 doors in here too, probably more. Some doors will probably not have been used to enter, but can still be a door we might need to exit through."

Eri took in all the information. "You counted all the teams?"

Kenji glanced over to Eri. "You didn't?"

"Why should I?"

Ryomaru went on, before a fight would erupt. And since there was way too little space to have an argument, he talked. "Look at the key."

The other two looked over to him, before glancing at the key. Ryomaru handed it to Eri. "What do you see?" he asked.

Eri looked at it, turning it around in the light. "A copper key, that really needs to be cleaned. It's getting green. I know just the-"

"Go on, Eri, don't talk about cleaning products," Kenji said slightly annoyed.

"Sorry." Eri turned it further.

"It has an oval head. It looks quite old, and the grooves are triangular and square in shape. I think it might be a key that is around 60 years old."

Eri raised her eyebrow as Kenji gave his report.

"Right, but otherwise it doesn't look like a special key to me," she said.

Kenji shrugged. "Indeed."

Then Ryomaru got the key again from Eri, who looked up confused.

Ryomaru narrowed his eyes and rubbed his finger over the key a little.

"Don't try to clean it like that, Ryomaru-kun, it won't really help. I told you I know just the thing. Too bad I don't have it with me. I hadn't expected that we might need to clean a key."

Kenji stared at Eri, while Ryomaru got closer to the key. Eri had been right, he couldn't really clean it.

It really looked just like an old key, quite smooth and nothing fancy, no decoration of any sort; except for the small symbol drawn around it. "What's that?" he asked.

He held out the symbol to the others, who came closer to.

"It looks like a seal," he told the other two.

"Let me see," Kenji said, gripping the key.

It was a seal, a very tiny and small one, but a seal none the less.

"You think Naruto-sensei put it there?" Eri asked. "Or the examiners?"

"The examiners, for sure. I don't think Naruto-sensei can make any seals at all."

"He can!"

"Doesn't matter." Kenji handed it back to Ryomaru. "What do you think it is for?" he asked. He knew Ryomaru's expertise about seals was better than his own.

It was quiet for a while. Eri started to listen to the sounds of the forest instead, only to come to the conclusion that there were no natural sounds at all. There were probably hardly living any animals at all down here. Just some insects.

Just as she was thinking this over, she looked back to Ryomaru, noticing a spider hanging above his head. She sniggered as she noticed it lowering until it hung just above the short green spikes.

Hearing her snigger, Ryomaru looked up, which caused the spider to land into his hair. He froze up as he felt something on his head.

He stayed very, very still, just the occasional shiver said that he was actually afraid.

Eri leant forward and removed the spider.

Quickly Ryomaru moved his hand over his head, before looking at the key again for a second. "I think it might be some sort of seal that needs another seal to activate."

"When it is put in the correct door?" Eri asked, looking up from the place where she had put down the spider.

Ryomaru nodded.

"That's our clue. On the door must be a seal that fits this one." Kenji turned to Ryomaru. "What do you think it might look like?"

"Probably big enough to be quite clearly visible. And I think it might be the inverse of this one, but I can't be sure. I'm no expert about seals."

"Good, that will be enough for now. Eri, imprint the seal in your head, got it?"

Eri nodded. "Yes sir."

"Okay, as for now, I want to add one last thing. Sensei said we will have a day to get to the other side. It means the maze is not really that big, but probably quite complex. That's why I was so careful to choose the right path to take," Kenji said.

"It's strange then that we haven't met any of the other 47 teams yet then." Eri said.

"Exactly." Kenji moved a bit to get more comfortable. "I bet some teams think they will be out easily, or have already found the right door, and just want to get out as much of the competition as possible. Or get up their chances of finding a door they can open by stealing keys. This means-"

"Traps," Ryomaru ended Kenji's sentence.

"We have to be careful."

-x-

Sasuke had watched Akira walk inside along with the other children, already happily chatting with the other kids.

Sasuke was glad Akira could talk to other children so easily. Plus he had Akane with him, she was in the same class as he was.

Still standing there at the gate, looking over the empty playground in front of the academy, he suddenly noticed someone standing beside him. Without looking around his eyes turned to his usual, somewhat cold, look. "Kurenai."

"Sasuke," Kurenai greeted, smiling.

It was quiet for a moment while the other fathers and mothers slowly left.

"They grow up so quickly, don't they?" Kurenai asked Sasuke. She was watching him, taking in any sign of emotion or whatsoever.

"Hm."

Kurenai grinned as Sasuke turned to her, about to greet her and leave. However, Kurenai laid her hand softly on his arm before he could do so. "Come with me." She let him go and turned away, walking off.

Sasuke stood there for a moment before he decided to follow her. He knew she had known he would do so.

After a while Sasuke noticed where they were heading, but didn't leave Kurenai's side. All kurenai did was glance at him with her scarlet eyes every once in a while. He was slightly uncomfortable coming here with her, but she knew he would be alright.

They reached the destination and Kurenai walked up to the grave of Asuma, looking down at it. Sasuke stayed a little behind her, not sure what to do. Kurenai closed her eyes and muttered some words to her deceased husband. Finally she opened her eyes again and looked up to Sasuke.

"Don't you need to see her grave?"

Sasuke frowned at her.

Kurenai pointed to Akiharu's grave. "She's his mother. She would like you to keep her up to date."

Sasuke's frown deepened. He didn't believe she would. "She's dead. Like she can hear." He was about to turn away, but Kurenai stopped him.

"She is dead; her body is no longer living, but she is still very much alive."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Kurenai smiled gently. "Inside Akira's heart." She laid her hand on her own heart. "This is important to him. I see how often he comes here to tell her about what his day. Go with him more often, even if you don't believe she can hear. It's important to your son."

Sasuke thought this over. Akira probably came here with Kurenai or Naruto, because Sasuke knew he didn't take Akira to his mother's grave, only on her birthday. Besides that he only took Akira to his parents grave every once in a while. He didn't really like visiting the graveyard all too often.

"Hn." He turned around and left. Kurenai didn't say anything as she watched him leave. Then she turned around and looked down. "He's still so stubborn," she told Asuma.

-x-

Naruto had waited next to the door for some time now, and started to get bored. So he had decided to head into the village to find him something to eat. Lost in thought about what he would like to have if, god forbids, he would not be able to find ramen, when he accidentally bumped into someone.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Naruto reached out to prevent the woman he had walked into from falling backward. When he held her arm, his eyes grew wide. Slowly he pulled her up.

Two purple locks of hair fell beside her face and the rest of her probably long hair was tied into a bun, held together by two senbon. Her black, but nearly as dark as Sasuke's, looked right into his.

When she had straightened up, she straightened her violet and white kimono, adorned with small flowers, she grinned at Naruto.

"Kazuko-senpai?" Naruto asked stunned. "What are you doing here?"

The kunoichi smiled. "Watching the chuunin exams."

Naruto looked her over. "In a kimono… far away from the exam?"

Kazuko sniggered and placed a hand on Naruto's chest. "You got me all figured out."

"I have?" Naruto asked confused.

"I'm here for you."

Naruto's mouth fell open. He was sure he was clear when he had told her he was together with Sasuke.

Then she burst out laughing. "Haha! I'm just kidding, Naruto. The look on your face, haha."

Seeing she had been joking, Naruto awkwardly laughed along.

"So, why are you really here? Your team is mostly already chuunin rank, right? Did you find a new team to go to the exams?"

Kazuko shook her head. "No. Only Naoko isn't chuunin yet, Michi advanced last time. When I found out that the Water country was so strict about three man cells to enter, I tried to form a new team for Naoko, but I couldn't do so in time. Plus I think Naoko didn't really want to go yet." Kazuko grinned. "So, my only hope is that only one of your genin becomes a chuunin, which means that next time our teams can join."

Naruto's face fell. "Really?"

"Well, of course not, I hope they all become chuunin." Her hand followed her side, the pattern on her kimono. "Okay, maybe I do hope two will fail."

"Huh?"

"Just kidding," she said, pushing Naruto.

Naruto's eyebrow rose. Was she joking or not? She didn't make it sound like she did.

"Well, anyway," Kazuko decided to change the topic, "how are you and Sasuke doing?"

Naruto smiled, glad she might be over him. "We're doing really fine. I do miss him though, and we've not even been away for that long. But I will probably miss Akira's first day of school. I would have liked to be there. Instead, Sasuke promised me he would have a surprise ready when I would come back." A huge smile broke Naruto face almost in two.

"Ooooh, I see," Kazuko said, her eyebrows going up and down.

Naruto looked confused. "You know something about it?"

Kazuko grinned. "I think I certainly do."

"You do?" Naruto asked surprised. He shuffled closer to her, holding his hand up, his tail quickly sweeping back and forth. "Would you tell me?"

Kazuko quickly brought up her hand to her mouth as she almost spluttered upon Naruto.

"What? What is it?"

Kazuko shook her head.

"Please?"

Kazuko carefully removed her hand from her mouth. "W-would you let me watch… when you get it?"

Naruto looked confused. "Um… sure?"

Naruto was sure he saw blood coming from Kazuko's nose before she had turned around.

"Are you alright? Do you have a nose bleed?" He tried to turn her around and help her, but she kept moving away from him.

"No, no, I'm fine, thank you."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." She took a few steps away. "I… I need to go now. I'll see you later, bye."

Naruto stared at her back. "Uh… Bye."

Women, so confusing…

-x-

Sasuke sat at home, reading and correcting some reports. The spelling and grammar mistakes that people made in their official reports was just absurd!

Crossing some word, and correcting it, he shook his head. He knew Tsunade wasn't that strict about well written Japanese, but he was sure she at least cared a little bit about it. It certainly had to be readable. He was sure that whenever Naruto would become Hokage, the quality of the reports would soon drop. Luckily Sasuke was there, and he would make sure Naruto would have some ninja under his command that would pay attention to the quality of the reports. Right now Sasuke always corrected the blond's reports, sometimes even rewrote them. Naruto wasn't much of a writer.

Putting aside another report a colleague had asked him to reread, Sasuke leant back. It was so quiet in the house now. He didn't really miss the sound of Akira, but it was strange, somehow a bit empty, but not necessarily in a bad or sad way. He actually was expecting Akira to come inside any moment now, holding up some sort of beetle he had found, talking excitedly. But he wouldn't. He was at school.

Sasuke smiled. He could get used to this, Akira away at school. He could be alone for a bit, could go on longer missions again. And otherwise he could be home alone, just with Naruto.

He looked down at the ANBU file in his hand. Longer missions. He liked that. He could get up in rank again; put some more effort into being a ninja, an ANBU. Naruto had his team to take care of, and Sasuke had to take care of Akira, who came before missions. Now he could do both.

Taking a sip from his tea, he leant forward again, taking in all the information about a possible ANBU mission he might have to take part of.

-x-

Eri pushed a small boy away from her, punching him in the face. "Get away, you creep!"

The creepy boy completely covered in black, just his mouth visible, launched forward again in some sort of spidery way.

It was past noon, and they still had over half a day to find the right door, but they had bumped into three teams already in such a short time. The first time they had met another team from

Konoha, so luckily there had been no fight, but the second time they had been less fortunate. Still the battle had been short when another team had joined in, making team 9 able to slip away.

"I really hate grass ninja," Eri muttered, throwing shuuriken at the boy in front of her.

"Like you leaf ninja are so wonderful?" The boy returned the shuuriken.

"Leafs are way better than grass, having to cut it short again and again; as if it's a pest." Eri pulled one of her twin wakizashi swords out of its seethe.

"Stupid leaves that you have to sweep together and throw away every year again and again." The boy got out a kunai, ready for the next attack.

"How many times have you entered the exam before?" Eri asked while she attacked him.

"Like I would tell you?" He countered her swing.

"Ha! You are so creepy and-"

"Don't call me names, or are you so low?" The boy tried to stab her in the stomach, but missed.

"Alright, I won't anymore; you're right about at least that, but I can't help but calling you creepy. Because you are. Why else would you cover up so much of yourself?"

"Because I would like to be unrecognizable and blend in, like a real ninja? I won't go around waving my hair in other's faces all the time."

"I don't do that!" Eri said angrily, pushing away one of her braids.

"You're a girl; I bet you scratch your opponent too."

Eri frowned. "Just sometimes!"

"Haha." The boy started laughing.

Suddenly Eri slapped him in the face. The boy looked up surprised, lowering his kunai a little when he saw Eri looking angrily at him, her own sword lowered. "Don't give me the 'you're a girl, so you must be weak' shit."

The boy rubbed his cheek. "I didn't. I just said you probably scratch your opponent in a fight. I never said that you are weak."

Eri thought this over. "True. Besides, it's just Kenji I scratch anyway," she muttered, looking over to said orange haired boy as he was fighting another member of the grass team.

"Kenji-kun, huh?" the boy asked, peering over to the Yamanaka. "You like him?"

Eri turned red and swung her sword to the boy. "Of course not! What makes you think that?"

The boy blocked her sword once more. "Just wondering."

"Why? Like you care about us leaf ninja."

The boy lowered both of their weapons. "I can't?"

Eri stared at the boy. "What's your name?" she asked.

"Ha, like I would tell you?" he said, puffing his chest.

"I'm Buki Eri." Eri grinned. "It's only polite to return the favour."

The mouth of the boy fell open as he stared at her for a moment. "I… I… Aargh, that's not fair!" He crossed his arms. "Fine, my name is Ibe Ruki."

Eri smiled. "Well, Ruki-kun, let's see who is the better leaf!"

"Leaf?"

"Grass is a sort of leaf too, isn't it?"

Ruki's mouth fell.

"Haha, which means a leaf will win either way."

Ruki had no time to react as his teammate came jumping to him with their female member hanging over his shoulder. "Let's go, we'll kill them later!" He jumped off.

Eri and Ruki looked at each other.

"Well, we'll have to finish this fight in the next round then," Ruki said. "Ja." He jumped away.

Directly Ryomaru and Kenji came to stand next to Eri on the same branch she was on. "Let's go," Kenji said, "before others that might have heard us fight grab their chance."

As they jumped away, from branch to branch, to quickly get some distance away from the fighting place, Eri noticed Kenji's face make an emotion it didn't do that often.

"What are you smiling about?" Eri suddenly asked as she noticed Kenji grin.

He fumbled in his pocket and out of it came a key. As he held it up to see Eri's eyes grew.

"You stole-?"

"She was really pissing me off, that grass kunoichi. She was telling me how they had met with a different team from Konoha earlier, and how they had defeated them, taking their key." Kenji grumbled. "She said it wasn't the first key they had taken, but I doubt that they had more. I knocked her out and took the key."

Eri smiled too. "You are so sneaky, Kenji."

Ryomaru smiled carefully. "Let's get back to the ground. We must be close to the other side by now."

Kenji nodded. "You're right, Ryo. Let's get one of these two keys to work."

-oXo-

A/N: R&R? ;)


	37. Chapter 37: First exam

Sorry, sorry for the long… eternity of not updating… I'm not going to make excuses, you all know how life can be. And yes… this is a short chapter compared to my usual chapter lengths, but it's something ^^

And most importantly: thank you readers, followers, reviewers and beta!

-oXo-

**Chapter 37: First Exam**

_14__th__ of March_

Naruto was leaning against the bar, waiting for his team to come back to the inn they were staying at above the café. Either way they would get back to the inn, having passed the exam, or after having failed they would have been let out of the maze when all time had passed.

Naruto checked his watch. They still had a lot of time, but Naruto hated waiting. He let his head drop in his arms on the counter.

"You sure you don't want anything else to drink, Kitsune-san?"

Naruto looked up to the kind bartender. "I'm sure," he said while waving his hand. "I wish they would hurry up."

The bartender grinned, already having heard Naruto talking about his and the exams… trice. The blond sure was a talker. The bartender had the feeling he was slightly nervous, but of course the bartender didn't point that out to the jounin, who had already been leaning against his bar for hours.

"Are you sure they wouldn't want to go for a walk around town if they had the chance?"

Naruto shook his head. "Nah, they've been up for so long, having been on alert for almost a whole day, 24 hours. They wouldn't."

"It's not been 24 hours yet."

Naruto smiled. "I know." He moved to sit down on a stool and ordered something to drink.

"Finally," the bartender said, getting the order ready.

Naruto watched the bartender work, while his head rested on his right arm.

"Look, it's the leaf shinobi," a soft, whispering voice came from one of the corners.

Naruto's ears turned around, pinpointing the voices. Then he looked up to see two men sitting in the shadow of a corner. He shrugged and ignored them. He was used to be pointed out. He did… stand out quite a bit.

"What is taking them so long?" he whined softly and stared at his drink.

-x-

"So what's the plan about finding the right exit?" Eri asked while moving on, following Kenji and Ryomaru.

"Ryomaru was right." Kenji took out one of the two keys they had and looked at it.

"It really gives hints into which heading we should go?" Eri asked.

Half an hour ago during a break Ryomaru had put the two keys together to compare them. He had found out that the two keys resonated very softly, and the closer together they got the stronger the feeling became and so they had found out that in certain directions the key had some sort of pull.

"This direction it's stronger," Kenji said, taking a left path.

However, before the others could move around the corner, Kenji had frozen.

"What is it?" Eri asked, getting out her small sword. "Jinta-kun?" She then asked as she saw the team in front of them.

"Eri-chan," a boy with dark blue eyes and dark brown hair walked forward. "Ryomaru, Kenji," he greeted the others with a nod of his head.

"If it isn't team 5," Kenji said almost sneering. He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes.

"I see team 9 isn't out of the maze yet either," a dark boy with very striking purple eyes.

Ryomaru took a step forward to the boy. "Tado-kun, you have a key?"

Kenji stepped forward, holding his arm out to Ryomaru. "I see what you are trying to do, but we shouldn't," he whispered.

"But we can trust them," Ryomaru interjected.

Tado opened his mouth. "Our key-" but he didn't get any further, because the third boy on their team stopped him.

"Tado, we can't just tell them. We need to be sure it's not an enemy."

Tado nodded to the dark-haired boy who wore a bow around his shoulders. "Sorry, Kin."

"So how do we do that?" Eri asked.

Kenji pulled her back from the other team. "Let's just move on," he told his team.

"No, we might be able to help each other," Ryomaru said. "If they have a key or keys too, we might find the exit faster," he whispered.

"Too risky, we won't. Let's go," Kenji spoke.

"Kenji is too scared," Jinta called out, his arms crossed too. He had a smug look on his face.

"Why you-" Kenji took a step forward, but Eri pulled him back.

"You can be so dumb, Kenji… What did you just tell us?"

Kenji growled softly and pushed Eri's arm away. "He's that baka Jinta alright," he concluded.

"You are stupid yourself!" Jinta called out.

"Quiet," Tado said, "You want others to find us as well?" He took a step forward to the other team. "Let's work together, but I'm afraid we haven't got much to offer you."

Ryomaru smiled at his fellow medic student. "Tado-kun, how many keys do you have?"

Jinta and Kin wanted to intervene, but Tado gave them a look and they kept quiet. He obviously was the leader of the three even though the other two had a bigger mouth.

"None, we lost ours to some-"

"You fought those Grass-ninja?" Eri asked.

Team 5 looked at them. "How do you know?" Jinta asked. "Eri-chan-"

"We fought them too," Kenji bragged, "but unlike you three, we were able to beat them." Arrogantly Kenji looked over to the other team.

"We took a key from them," Eri added and showed the other team their two keys.

"Unbelievable… we tired them out for you, you know," Kin said.

"Kin-kun, Jinta-kun, Tado-kun…" Eri turned back to Ryomaru and Kenji. "Let's help them."

Kenji's eyes widened. "What? Are you crazy?"

They huddled together.

"If we do, then at least two Konoha teams get through the first round. You don't know what the next exams will be, but it might be better to know our enemy than having some unknown team as our opponent."

Kenji frowned at Eri's statement. "We can't. Obviously they are not ready to be chuunin yet."

"This is not just about becoming a chuunin or about who is best, Kenji!" Eri spat. "You remember what Naruto-sensei keeps lecturing us about, day in day out?"

"Yeah, yeah, team-work," Kenji muttered.

"I think we should help them too," Ryomaru joined in the conversation.

"You see," Eri said, glad Ryomaru was on her side.

"I only see advantages at this point."

Kenji was silent, thinking things over. Being with the six of them, fewer teams would risk to attack. They had more chances of reaching the exit, and faster. They knew team 5 quite well, so they could work together without too much delay.

"Okay, but…" he said, holding his hand up before Eri would jump up in joy. "But since we have two keys, I think we should make one demand. They can get our second key, as long as we go through the first exit we find."

Eri frowned, as did Ryomaru; Ryomaru not happy with the demand, Eri thinking it over.

"Okay, let's do that," she said.

"What?" Ryomaru looked up. "No, we can't ask that-"

"We decided," Eri spoke out, standing up without listening to Ryomaru, "that we will help you. We will give you our second key, but we go through the first exit we find."

Team 5 was silent for a while and then started whispering.

After a minute or so Tado straightened up, as did the others. "Deal. We believe teamwork is more important at this stage."

"And they really need a key," Kenji muttered. Eri elbowed him.

"Let's go!"

-x-

He was late. He should have been outside for a while now, but he wasn't.

He leaned on his other leg and with ease looked over some women in front of him, who stood laughing and squabbling about who knows what that he didn't even wanted to know about.

He could have written a report by now. If he had his papers with him he would have read them and continued his work here, instead of this useless, time consuming waiting. He hated to wait, as if people didn't bother to think of him. Didn't think it was important enough to show up on time. Like they didn't care about him. Why did they have to be late and make him wait?

Naruto also sometimes had the tendency to make him wait. Fortunately he wasn't continuously late like Kakashi, but really, that man enjoyed being late and making people wait.

Naruto had the amazing ability to be either exactly on time or late, but still be able to manage to be in an acceptable time range. (No one else could do that, but Sasuke just didn't want to admit that it was Naruto in the equation that made him find it acceptable, and not necessarily the amount of time that the blond was late.)

He sighed and narrowed his eyes. Schools were supposed to be on time. All other classes had already left the building, except the class with the person he was waiting for.

Teachers were always so strict about being on time, every student that arrived too late getting punishment, but when it came to it, when they were the ones making other people wait for their children to get out of class, it suddenly was alright and normal.

He didn't understand why it was so hard to be on time for an appointment anyway. You know what time to be where, and leave on time, knowing how long it takes to get at the agreed meeting place. There was nothing hard to understand about that.

Sasuke only became more and more frustrated as his thoughts continued, until suddenly…

He looked up and thought what it might look like to his son if he found an angry looking father waiting for him at his first day of school.

He got rid of his frown and slowly looked around. A smile might be a bit too much, but at least he wasn't emitting evil vibes anymore. A mother some way away from him kept glancing at him nervously. Probably thinking what an angry man like him was doing outside a schoolyard.

Finally the kids came walking outside, followed by their new teacher. She had soft blue hair cut a little under her ears and falling straight down. A clip in her hair kept a lock of hair out of her light blue eyes. She wore, like any other teacher, a chuunin vest and blue attire. The only exception, making her look different than any other ninja, was a green sash tied around her waist.

Akira came running to Sasuke, jumping around him. "This was a fun day! I want to go to school again tomorrow."

"You will, don't worry." Sasuke turned around and started walking away while Akira waved goodbye to some new friends and followed him.

"You knew my teacher would be Ririko-sensei." Teal eyes studied the features of his father.

"I had my suspicions."

"You knew," Akira smiled.

"Of course."

"What's for dinner?"

Sasuke suddenly realized he hadn't thought of dinner yet. "Whatever you feel like eating."

"Yeah!" Akira ran away.

"But you need to tell me first," Sasuke muttered, "otherwise I will not know if we have everything in the house."

Akira was long gone.

-x-

Eri pointed right in front of her.

"There! It must be there!" she shouted and ran forward toward a bush. "I found it, guys!"

Holding up the two keys she made herself ready to jump the last part toward her goal.

Kenji and Ryomaru followed her, smiling as they had finally reached the end of this exam. However, just before Eri could stretch out her hand toward the bush, a dark clad ninja jumped to her, his two sided axe ready to cut her head off.

"Wait, Eri!" Kenji yelled just before the axe hit Eri.

It was too late.

The ninja laughed madly. "The key, give me the key!" He turned around without looking back at Eri and raised his axe again.

Ryomaru pulled out some senbon and slashed them out to the opponent, scratching him. Immediately two other ninjas came from nowhere, backing up their teammate.

"Ha, got you now!" Jinta yelled as he jumped into the fight, followed by his teammates and Eri.

"You. I killed you!" The ninja with the axe called, pointing to Eri before looking around, to find a log cleanly cut in two. "Kawarimi."

"You thought you trapped us," Eri said as she ran to her original attacker while the others took out the other two ninjas, "but we trapped you."

A little while later the three foreign ninjas lay unconscious on the ground, tied together by one of Kin's sturdy ropes. "They won't get away with these ropes tying them together," Kin said.

Kenji looked down. "Your family techniques do come in handy after all."

Kin narrowed his eyes.

"Let's see if one of the two keys fit," Kenji said as he took out the two keys and handed one to Eri.

Together they watched as Kenji moved the key to the lock, put it in and turned.

Click. It opened.

"Yes!" Eri yelled. "We did it!" She turned around to the other team and handed them the second key. "Good luck getting out. I think your door must be close by."

Tado accepted the key and nodded. "If you don't mind we'll leave immediately. Not that much time left to get out."

"Bye," Ryomaru waved as team 5 left.

"Let's go, Ryu, Eri," Kenji waved his hand, beckoning them to follow.

"Finally, out of this foresty maze."

-x-

When they entered the inn they were staying in, they directly bumped into a sleeping blond.

"Really? He couldn't even stay awake?" Eri asked, moving around their sensei, who was softly snoring.

The bartender noticed the three kids looking at their teacher. "Ah, you must be Kitsune-san's kids." He moved closer and put his hand to his mouth. "He was worried about you."

He didn't get the reaction he had anticipated.

"Worried?" Kenji asked, looking to Naruto. Then he kicked his leg, painfully waking him up.

"Ah! Who did-" Naruto looked down to see orange hair, yellow angry eyes… "Kenji! You guys made it. Finally!"

"You were worried?" Kenji asked while Naruto embraced Eri in a hug. "You didn't think we would make it through? I thought you trusted us!"

Naruto smiled. "Ah, well, you know. If you ever get a team of your own, or children, whatever comes first, you will come to understand."

"Try explaining it to me now." Kenji crossed his arms.

Ryomaru took Kenji's arm. "Come, let's continue in our rooms."

"Good idea." Naruto got up, taking this opportunity to leave the hard wooden bar and get to a much softer bed.

"Worried, hmpf." Kenji stayed muttering, but he didn't ask for any explanation. Instead, the three had to explain all they had been through in the maze, and Eri made sure it was a good story to tell. Soon Kenji couldn't stay angry, because he had to show off too, joining Eri in the story telling.

-x-

Sasuke stood next to Akira's bed. It was still early, he could watch his son sleep for a little more before he would need to get out and get ready for school. Now that Naruto wasn't here, and he couldn't watch the blond sleep, Sasuke had decided to take a look at his son.

The annoying bat was hanging in the closet, on the rail between some clothes as it had done so the last few nights. Sasuke had felt like closing the closet, but didn't think having a fight with the bat so early in the morning was a good idea.

He was leaning against the wall next to the door, wondering what it would be like if he could change places with Akira. Go back to his own youth, back to when his family was still alive. He had to make sure Akira wouldn't lose any more parents.

Sasuke grinned. Like he would let himself get killed, ha! Most ninjas with a bit of sense would flee only at the sight of him, if they got the chance, and those stupid enough to try fighting him… well, let's say they would never try to do so again.

Slowly Sasuke pushed off the wall and started walking toward the bed. It looked like Akira was dreaming something, softly muttering inaudible words. As he reached the bed, Sasuke slowly and soundlessly crouched down. He could feel the soft small breaths of Akira in his face.

He had grown so much the last few months, a couple of centimetres at least, and his hair could use a haircut as well. His bangs were hanging in his eyes.

His arm reached up, stroking away the long hair, showing closed eyes and thin dark eyebrows.

Suddenly Sasuke stood up again and took a few steps back, a smile showing on his face, then turned around and walked out of the room.

-x-

"Whoohooo! Second exam, here we come. We are on a roll you guys. I feel this will be an easy exam."

"Eri-chan, don't jinx it, please." Ryomaru started fiddling with the hem of his sweater.

"Come on, Ryomaru, don't worry," Naruto said as he put his hand on Ryomaru's shoulder, almost making the boy trip as he put a bit too much force behind it.

"So, sensei… what's the second exam about?" Kenji asked.

"Let me think… was it the… or was that the last exam?... Maybe the… or was that when I did the exams…" Naruto grinned. "I don't remember."

"You are such a lousy sensei," Kenji muttered.

"What was that?" Naruto asked, frowning.

Kenji pretended not to have heard, walking on toward a big building, painted red and white.

"I only hope it's not a written exam," Eri said, looking up to the building. "I don't particularly like those." She started climbing the long, white marble stairs in front of the building.

"You never had bad grades," Ryomaru said.

"No, but I still don't like them." She eyed Naruto, who was frowning.

"When I entered the chuunin exams, I had to do a written exam."

Eri stopped, which caused for Ryomaru to bump into her. "What? I was just kidding; I didn't really think that there would be…" She trailed off, looking up to the high building again. "I was afraid this looked too much like a school," she said sadly.

"Well see when we get inside," Kenji said. "Besides, a written exam can't be that bad. If sensei made it, I'm sure we will easily pass it."

"Hé, what's that supposed to mean?" Naruto swished his tail.

Kenji shrugged.

"Let's get into that building and find out what we have to do."

"Roger that."

Some stairs later they reached the top, where a big open gate welcomed them into the building. The red doors reminded Naruto of Konoha, making him wonder how Sasuke was faring, but as they walked through the gate into the darkness, he immediately forgot all about the raven after he noticed what was waiting for them inside.

-oXo-


	38. Chapter 38: Second exam

Oh... is this an update?... YES!

-oXo-

**Chapter 38: Second Exam**

_15__th__ of March_

He was so warm that he could actually feel sweat drops gliding down his brow. He blinked, trying to focus. He was tired and low on chakra.

A quick glance to his sides showed his teammates were at their limits as well. This couldn't continue for much longer before one of them would go down, and that would immediately result in their loss. It had to end soon, very soon.

He looked up. Directly in front of him were standing three women; they each wore a white headband tied around their foreheads. They all had the same long brown hair, the same brown eyes, the same gold earrings, the same blue and white clothing, and the same sandals. They were like copies, but they weren't. They were triplets… and very well skilled kunoichi.

Kenji couldn't deny this. He would never say it aloud, but he couldn't deny that he wasn't particularly fond of their unique fighting style. They only used their hands and feet, but they could conflict a lot of damage that way. They were close range fighters, and they had managed to damage team 9 greatly.

Eri was holding her swords tightly while her bare arms showed the many bruises on them. She was breathing heavily as well. Staring at the most left kunoichi, as if trying to set her on fire by just looking at her. She looked tired.

Ryomaru, if he hadn't been here they would never have come this far. He had healed them again and again. Kenji was grateful Ryomaru knew how to treat the injuries, the unique damage the triplets caused.

It was as if they were acrobats, snakes. They moved very fast, and hit certain spots on the body as if they possessed the Byakugan. However, they didn't hit chakra nodes to block chakra; they hit muscles, rendering them unusable. When they had hit Kenji on either arm, he had felt very useless, vulnerable. Fortunately Ryomaru had given him back feeling in his arms with a simple procedure, but by now his left arm had been hit and healed so many times that it wouldn't stop tingling and feeling numb.

Out of all the teams that had passed the first round, it was their luck to have to fight this one. They only needed to fight one round, needed to win once, but that was easier said than done. Winning and thus passing the second exam was not within their reach yet. They had to hurry, for if an hour had passed and neither team had been defeated, they both would fail and not be able to continue to the next and final exam.

Kenji glanced over to Ryomaru once more, then to the enemy. Their only luck was that the three kunoichi were tiring themselves out as well. They were fast, but their stamina was low. They were obviously used to working quickly, but efficiently.

Then Kenji's yellow eyes landed on Eri, and he noticed her glancing back at him, smiling. First he thought she was trying to cheer him up, but then he saw her ring finger and middle finger crossing while she held her blade.

Suddenly Kenji grinned as well. "If you are certain?"

"Of course," Ryomaru answered, indicating he had noticed Eri's message as well.

Eri dropped one of her twin blades, the movement a catalyst for the three kunoichi to attack once more. Quickly she put her hand in her pouch and pulled out a small ball, throwing it in front of them.

Immediately smoke engulfed them all, making it hard to see anything beyond a meter. The triplets jumped away from the smoke, knowing that an attack would be a waste of their lessening energy.

Soon the smoke would clear, and they would be able to attack while team 9 had no more smoke bombs to hide in. There was no way to hide in the small arena; there were no bushes, no rocks, no cracks in the floor, no trees. The spikes that had been formed by an earth jutsu a few battles before had already been levelled.

Ryomaru and Kenji were the firsts to emerge from the smoke, obviously going for a direct attack on the triplets.

"Those-"

"Leaf ninja-"

"Are morons," they made a sentence together.

Kenji held out five kunais, threw the first three, one to each to the girls, and then held the other two in his hand to fight one twin.

Ryomaru was throwing a few senbon before also attacking one twin with his poisonous needles.

"You-"

"Forgot-"

"-One," the three said. The one girl not being attacked went for Kenji, easily hitting all of his weak points. He fell to the ground, unable to move.

Before Kenji hit the ground, Ryomaru jumped onto the girl he was fighting, which caused them both to fall to the ground.

The other two girls turned to Ryomaru, ready to take him out as well, when Eri jumped out of the quickly disappearing smoke, her one small katana heaved up above her head, ready to strike.

"Now, Kenji!" she yelled when the two girls turned to her. They were surprised to see that Eri jumped over them to attack the girl that was struggling to get free from Ryomaru grip, instead of going for one of them.

As they looked up to Eri as she jumped over them, they saw another person coming right at them, his hands making a special kind of seal.

"But-" the girl on the ground, held down by Ryomaru started.

"We-" the girl staring at Kenji continued.

"Got him already?" The third one asked while Kenji landed and fell over.

The girl next to the girl finishing the sentence looked at her sister. "Who-?"

Her sister punched her full in the face.

As she felt her nose break, the girl looked at her sister with surprise on her face. "What-?" She fell to the floor, trying to get up, but her sister kicked her and she fell down unconscious.

The other triplet, lying on the floor saw the other Kenji, the one they had defeated, turn into the girl and then disappear out of existence. "You-?" she asked Eri.

"I hate it that none of you finish their own sentences!" Eri said, as she held her wachizaki to the girl's throat. She was panting slightly; the Bunshin she'd made had taken a lot of chakra.

Ryomaru got off the girl and quickly cut her with one of his senbon. "Sorry, it's just precaution. You'll be able to move in about an hour."

The two of them turned to the last girl, who held out her hands to Eri and Ryomaru. "Quick, I don't have much chakra left!" she told the two.

Eri was out of chakra as well, and she fell to her knees, unable to stand for much longer. The Bushin was still a difficult, chakra consuming jutsu.

Ryomaru noticed this and quickly stepped to the last girl, getting out some rope, but before he could put the rope around her hands even once, he heard Kenji yell at him with his own voice from his own body.

"Watch it!"

Ryomaru was not completely able to avoid the kick to his chest, and stumbled backwards. He looked over to Kenji, and saw him trying to get up. Just like Eri he was exhausted. This had been the risk of their plan; it had used up all of their last remaining chakra. Only Ryomaru would have some left, and he wasn't usually the front man; he wasn't the attacker.

Ryomaru got out some more of his senbon, noticing it were the last ones he had. With a straight face, not showing the girl he was panicking inside, he threw all the last senbon but one at her.

She was tired too, but was still able to avoid all of them.

When she came closer to him, Ryomaru knew he would be unable to beat her hand to hand. The only reason he had been able to get her sister was because Eri got to them in time, and because he had thrown himself onto her, which had surprised the girl.

He knew only one way to win this fight, and he wasn't sure if it would work. He looked down at Eri as she kept trying to stand up, but fell to her knees every time. Kenji wasn't doing better either; he was still lying on the ground. He had managed to turn onto his belly so he could see what was going on, but he was breathing heavily; tired.

It was all up to him, all up to the medical ninja of the group.

As he saw the girl walk at him, as if in slow motion, Ryomaru shivered when he realized he was the one that could make them win or lose the fight. They were a team, he didn't like fighting alone. He was used to be the man in the background; he didn't mind being like that. He wanted to help his team, keep them healthy, but he didn't want to fight on his own.

He looked up to his sensei, standing to the side, watching them. The blond wasn't worried, he actually seemed quite confident. It was as if he already knew they would win. _But why_, Ryomaru wondered. _He knows I'm the weakest fighter in the group._

Suddenly he saw Sakura scolding him.

_It was outside on a training field. He and his five fellow medic students were standing on the grass in a line facing Sakura._

"_What did you say? You would run?" she yelled at him. _

_He had seen Sakura angry before, but never had it been directed at him. He wanted to cower away behind his classmates._

"_You might be a medical ninja, meaning you will keep to the back of formations, be more careful not to be hit. Your first priority is to keep them healthy. Why would you run as soon as they are taken out?" Sakura's eyes flared with anger, and Ryomaru was sure he was about to cry. "You are there to keep them healthy, to keep them alive. If you failed in doing so, that doesn't mean you can run away! Because your second priority is to Konoha! You will keep _them_ safe, make sure _they_ will survive! You fight!" She put her hands in her sides._

"_All of you, remember this at all times," she said more gently. "The only reason your team is your priority, is so that they can keep Konoha safe. In reality your team comes second, Konoha first."_

"_That sounds crude, somehow," a girl with blue hair said._

_Sakura nodded. "I agree, but I'm not teaching you all this for fun, it's not a game. I want you to survive, be able to help yourself and others." She let her hands fall from her sides and held up a fist. "And I know you can! You will protect your team, Konoha, it doesn't really matter, but you will keep fighting till the end. You can do it, and once you face that, you will!"_

All Ryomaru had really remembered was how afraid he had been of Sakura, but now he realized she was right. This wasn't just a win-lose situation. It wasn't about being able to get to the next round and become chuunin or not. It wasn't like what Eri had said to him, trying to comfort him, 'if we fail it doesn't matter, we will be able to try next time.' No! They were here to show everyone they could handle fighting their way through, it was not just a test. It was to show that they could outsmart an enemy, could fight them, could defeat them, but most of all could defend themselves and their country.

Ryomaru's chest swelled up as sudden strength came to him. "We _can_ defend Konoha!" he yelled and threw himself at the girl, throwing a punch at her.

Eri and Kenji looked up, their eyes widening as they saw Ryomaru attack the girl clumsily. He might have found new confidence and have yelled something heroic, but his movement told he was still shaking. He might not want to admit it, but he was still Ryomaru. His new found bravery would be short lived, for the girl tackled him easily as if he was a first year.

Kenji closed his eyes. What was Ryomaru doing?

If he hadn't closed his eyes, he would have seen how Ryomaru tripped, tried to grasp his opponents arm to prevent from falling, see the girl grin and lean away, and finally see Ryomaru fall to the ground.

"Ryo!" Eri screamed, but instead of seeing disappointment on the green haired boy's his face, she saw determination.

Just as Kenji opened his eyes, the girl pulled her foot back to kick Ryomaru full in his stomach.

Ryomaru gasped as the strong blow hit him. His hands grabbed her foot, while he gasped for some air.

The girl laughed, shook him off, and was ready to kick again. "You will lose, there's nothing you can do anymore," she said.

"Maybe not anymore," Ryomaru panted, holding his stomach. A smile appeared on his face. "But that won't be necessary; you already lost."

The girl narrowed her eyes, and wanted to pull her foot back to knock Ryomaru out… but she couldn't.

"What?" She looked down to her foot.

Ryomaru dropped his last senbon to the ground. "Shouldn't have kicked me, I guess you didn't feel it when I cut you."

She looked down to her foot, seeing a small scratch on her toe. It was hardly bleeding, but it had certainly been enough to get the poison in her foot.

"I…" she said while falling onto one knee. "We…"

Kenji laughed. "You lost," he said. He had managed to sit up. He was sweating from the effort it had taken, but he could still smile.

The girl slowly fell sideways.

"Ryomaru is the best, uncertain ninja in Konoha!" Eri said, smiling. She crawled to Ryomaru and fell on top of him, hugging him. "You did it!"

"Team 9 from Konoha has won," the referee said.

A few ninja clapped, others were just glad the fight had finally finished, but Naruto made jumps of joy.

"Eri…chan… c-could you," Ryomaru said, trying to breath with the girl on top of him as he turned red in the face.

"You did it, you did it!"

Naruto went to Kenji and helped him up. "Well done, great strategies."

Kenji smiled. "It's not because of the strategies we won," he said. "It's because of us."

Naruto laughed, and helped him to the side while Eri and Ryomaru helped each other get up and walk out of the small arena.

-x-

"And then he shouted, 'We can defend Konoha!'" Eri said enthusiastically, throwing her arm in the air. "And I was sure he would make some awesome move, or smart strategy, but he just let himself be kicked, and fell to the ground!"

Ryomaru narrowed his eyes. "Eri-chan… please," he blushed as he sat on a bench next to her in the back of the arena.

"Yeah, that was kind of an anti-climax, Ryo," Kenji admitted.

"You didn't even see that, you had your eyes closed," Naruto said, peeling an orange in front of his students.

Kenji got up from the bench, ready to protest, but instead flinched. "Ah… uh…" He grabbed his arm and sat down again.

"For a second there, I really thought you wouldn't… _we_ wouldn't make it," Eri continued. "But you did it!" she said, hugging him once more.

"E-Eri-chan, please…" Ryomaru blushed.

"You were fantastic!"

"I… I," Ryomaru muttered.

"You were all great," Naruto said, handing a piece of orange to Eri and Ryomaru. "Kenji?" he held out a piece to the orange haired boy as well, but he shook his head.

Naruto shrugged and ate it himself.

"That team of grass ninja we met before is about to fight," he suddenly said.

"You heard that?" Eri asked, finally letting go of poor Ryomaru.

Naruto nodded. "You don't want to go watch them?"

Eri shook her head. "Why would I?" She crossed her arms and looked away.

"It's the competition, never bad to watch them fight." Naruto watched Eri closely, narrowing his eyes as he didn't believe the girl.

Kenji narrowed his eyes. "I really hate them." He stood up, wincing, but managed to get to the door. "I want to go see how badly they will lose, and then I will see if I can punch _him_ in the face."

Naruto grinned.

When they had entered this building to go to the second exams, the grass ninjas that they had encountered in the maze stood waiting next to the door.

Immediately Kenji had broken into a verbal attack with the green clothed ninja he had fought with in the maze. Ryomaru had tried to calm him down until the other team member of the grass ninja had slapped him in the face. Naruto had joined in, as well as the jounin sensei of the grass, trying to ease their students.

Eri had wanted to join them as well, but had stopped when the masked boy she had fought before smiled at her.

"_What are you laughing at?" she asked._

_The boy clothed in a darker green than his teammate shrugged. "Not sure, but I guess it's funny that we meet again."_

"_Still all covered up?" Eri asked, crossing her arms while taking a passive stance._

"_Of course, never know what to expect in an exam. I see you still have your pigtails."_

"_Of course, they're not annoying me. Besides the next exam is a written exam," Eri told Ruki._

"_How come you're so sure?" Ruki asked._

"_I have a feeling."_

_Ruki was silent for a moment. Eri was not sure what he was doing, but she noticed he was moving his head up and down._

"_You're lying."_

"_Am not." Eri huffed. _

"_You don't think it's a written exam at all."_

"_Well, I'm thinking that I'm hoping that it isn't."_

_The boy was silent again. "Sure." He took a step closer. "You're not so hard to read. I like that." He moved his arm closer to Eri. At first she wanted to take a step back, but then decided against it. _

_He took one of her pigtails between his fingers. "They're not that bad." He let it go and turned away, walking back to his team. Eri watched him, stunned. _

_Kenji, all red in the face, came stepping toward Eri. "Ooooh, I really hate them. We are so going to win from them next time!"_

"_Calm down, Kenji, he apologized, didn't he?" Naruto told Kenji. Next to him Ryomaru nodded slowly, he still looked a bit dazed, and one of his cheeks was slightly red from where he had been slapped in the face._

"_But that doesn't take away the fact that he slapped you in the face, Ryo. He shouldn't have done that… I would like to punch _him_ in the face." Kenji walked right past Eri, who was still looking at the grass ninja as they walked away in the opposite direction._

"_M-maybe you will have the opportunity soon?" Ryomaru suggested._

"_I really hope so."_

_Ryomaru walked after Kenji, trying to calm him down. "I'm not angry at them for it," he said._

"_You should be! That was so low."_

"_B-but he apologized."_

"_I'll… I'll," Kenji said, wringing his hands._

"_If you get the opportunity I permit you to hit him for me," Ryomaru said._

"_You will?" Kenji asked. "In the face, right?"_

_Ryomaru's mouth twitched as he tried to smile. He nodded._

"_Yes!" Kenji playfully hit Ryomaru in the shoulder. "I like you! I'm going to make him sorry for what he did." He continued scheming plans of how to hit the grass ninja and where, while Ryomaru tried to calm him down somewhat._

_In the meantime Naruto had noticed Eri not walking with them. _

"_You seen a ghost?" he asked Eri as he came to stand next to her. "Or maybe you are angry too?"_

_Eri looked around to her sensei. "Oh, no, nothing wrong with me. Just thinking."_

"_That's a good sign," Naruto said as they walked after the two boys. _

"_So…" Naruto started after a while, looking down to Eri. "Who was that?"_

_Eri suddenly turned red. "It's not like that!"_

_Naruto blinked. "Like what?" he asked confused._

_Immediately Eri turned a deeper shade of red. "I mean… I don't know."_

"_Oh…" Naruto said, somewhat put off. He was still trying to find out what Eri's reaction meant. "Just asking."_

Back in the arena, Eri huffed and stood up. "I'll go see them as well, make sure Kenji won't make a fool out of himself. You coming, Ryo?"

Ryomaru nodded and followed his team.

Naruto grinned and leaned back. He proceeded to eat his orange with a smile on his face. "No matter what happens, this whole thing is really a lot of fun."

-x-

Sasuke looked down at the file in his hands; a mission. He looked up, or rather down, to his short captain as she stood in front of him.

"You understand, don't you?" she asked with a deep voice that didn't fit her personality.

"Yes," he said, not making any effort in adding a -sama, -taicho or even mentioning her name.

She narrowed her eyes when she noticed this, but didn't say anything. "See you next Monday."

Sasuke walked away from the colourful woman, covered in buttons and key chains, into the direction of his home. Naruto wouldn't be back yet next Monday. He would probably be on his way back, but not return home for another day or two; depending if they went home right away or not, and if they would make it past the finals (in one piece).

On his way home he ran into Ino, who needed to tell him all about… something. Sasuke hadn't been listening to her.

"You're not listening," Ino told him correctly.

"No, not really," Sasuke admitted, seeing no reason to make this a long discussion.

Ino narrowed her eyes. "You could pay a little more attention to your friends," she said while putting her hands in her sides. "You didn't even hear me tell you that Kiba will probably get a team next year."

Sasuke raised his eyebrows ever so slightly. "Really?"

Ino nodded. "Was quite surprised myself, but I guess he might be ready. Shino is busy with clan stuff, and lately Hinata is giving students of the Academy who need extra help extra lessons. Chouji has refused the offer of a genin team since he is busy with some sort of treaty between Kiri, but after that he will get one as well. I think he really wants it, maybe-"

This was the point where Sasuke's mind drifted off again. Maybe he could ask Ino to watch Akira? He was quite sure Akira wouldn't mind, he always liked staying over at someone else's home. Then the question was if Ino had time, and if he wanted Ino to watch over his son.

He watched Ino talk for a while. She really could be a nice woman, but she was just annoying… like all women. Maybe she would stop talking if he suggested it? He could try.

"Ino," he said, interrupting her in the middle of her sentence, "would you mind watching Akira next week?"

Ino looked at him, first she frowned because he had interrupted her, but then her look changed. She was thinking, considering the offer, and then she looked up to Sasuke. "Sure, of course I will do that."

Sasuke nodded. "Good."

"I thought you would never ask me to watch him," Ino said, grinning at him. Then she pushed him back. "But don't interrupt me in the middle of a conversation next time." She walked away, her long ponytail swishing behind her. "See you next week then," she said sweetly.

Sasuke didn't understand her. At first he had thought he did, but he didn't. He turned around and walked off.

-x-

Naruto and his team sat in the café under the inn. They were discussing what they had seen and done during the second exams.

Kenji hadn't been happy when the grass ninja had defeated their opponent.

"At least now you have another opportunity to punch him in the face without getting yourself and us disqualified," Eri said, beginning to get enough of Kenji's whining.

"But still. I would have rather hit him and be d-"

"Don't even say it," Eri threatened.

"They fought very well," Naruto said, picking up his glass.

"We should be careful," Ryomaru said softly.

Kenji narrowed his eyes. "Ha! We came this far, we will be chuunin in no time."

Ryomaru hit Kenji on the head.

Everyone looked surprised at the always so shy and polite Ryomaru, as he blushed red due to his unexpected action.

"What… what was that for?" Kenji asked perplexed, unable to become mad at Ryomaru since it was so out of character.

The green haired boy started fiddling with his shirt. "I-I know we came this far, a-and I know we can make it, b-but… but don't become cocky and think this will be easy!" Ryomaru took a deep breath and then looked down at the table.

"Well said, Ryomaru," Naruto said, patting him on the shoulder.

"You didn't yell the 'we'll protect Konoha' thing without a reason, did you?" Eri asked softly.

Kenji glanced around the table. "But we will make it and become chuunin," he said stubbornly.

Eri smiled and put her arm around his shoulder. "We will, don't worry."

"But…" Naruto said heaving his voice, and thus making his students look up to him. "I will train you for the next week. It's not over yet, and we will make use of this time before the last exam starts by training."

Kenji nodded, Eri let go of Kenji, and Ryomaru started drawing circles on the table.

"We still don't know what the last exam will be, but there has been a theme this year that has been important while thinking up the exams. Have you noticed yet?" Naruto looked around.

Ryomaru nodded. Kenji narrowed his eyes before thinking of the answer and looking up to Naruto. Eri was clearly lost. "Really?" she asked.

"Yes," Ryomaru nodded. "It's something Naruto-sensei always warns us about."

"Teamwork," Kenji said.

"Oh?" Eri asked, thinking this over.

"In the first exam we could only finish as a team, and had to put not only our experience, survival techniques, and skills to the test, but also our intelligence. Only working together could get a team to the other side. If a team doesn't work together properly, it won't make it to the end."

Kenji nodded at Ryomaru's explanation, "a-and then the second exam we had to fight another team, as a team. Not individually, but as a team."

"So we can assume we will stay together as a team in the last exam as well?" Eri asked.

Both Kenji and Ryomaru nodded. "So, what kind of thing would they want to test us about, before deciding we are capable of becoming chuunin?" Eri asked. "Survival, skills, experience, teamwork, determination and intelligence… what's next?"

They tried to think up something that they hadn't done yet. Naruto sat back listening to their assumptions.

"Maybe we need to fight a jounin?" Eri asked.

"Hm, no way, we already showed we can handle fighting another team," Kenji countered.

"But not a jounin," Eri said.

"What if they trap us in a genjutsu, and then make us fight each other?" Ryomaru asked.

"No way, Ryo, they can't do something like that." Kenji shook his head.

"What if they make us think we lose someone of the team, and want to find out what we will do in such a situation?" Eri asked.

"I see," Kenji said, putting his hand on his chin. "Strange idea, but still…"

"I hope it's not a written exam," Eri muttered.

Naruto grinned as he listened to his team. He wasn't sure what the last exam would be, but he had some guesses that were probably more accurate than his team's speculations.

Suddenly he stood up and leaned on the back of his chair. His team looked up. "I think you should get some rest, it's getting late, and I don't want you to get ill before the final exam has been finished."

Slowly he got his students up and away from the table. Naruto paid the bartender and followed his student to the bedrooms.

"Maybe we should make more formations, so we can easily pick one for any situation we might find ourselves in," Eri said.

Naruto pushed her out of the boy's room. "Come Eri-chan, tomorrow you can talk more about all of this."

"But, sensei!" She protested, gripping the doorpost as he tried to pull her away from the boys.

"Eri-chan, let go. Sleep, now, or I'll make you run laps all day," Naruto tried.

Eri protested some more, so finally Naruto just picked her up and put her over his shoulder. "Fine," he said.

"Sensei!"

Finally Eri was on her own room, and Naruto made sure the other two had gone to sleep as well before he went down to make an evening stroll.

It was still light, a clear sky, while the sun was slowly lowering on the sky, becoming red.

Naruto sniffed the fresh air and closed his eyes. He imagined Sasuke walking beside him, silent as ever. He could almost feel his hand in his own, hear his soft and even breathing, smell the sweet and lavender-ish odour coming from him.

He smiled. He missed Sasuke, but this way he was still with him.

He slowly swept his tail, softly brushing his legs. He walked over a bridge and stopped there, leaning onto the railing. He watched the sun, feeling it's warmth on his skin, pretending it was Sasuke's.

"Hey, fox-boy, you lonely?"

Naruto slowly looked up, turning to the side. "What?"

A man with orange hair combed mostly to one side of his face and a dark man stood to the side of the bridge. Naruto recognized them as the two men from the stands. He had been standing behind them at the opening of the exams.

"You are… kind of rude, aren't you?" the ginger haired man asked, stepping closer to Naruto.

Naruto shrugged. "Maybe a little." He looked the man up and down before turning back to the sun.

"He thinks he's so great and wonderful with his dog ears," the man continued, stopping beside Naruto and also leaning on the railing.

"Dog… ears?" Naruto asked. "You must be dumber than you look."

The man frowned angrily. "Isake," the man called to his dark friend, "what do you think? They're dog ears, right?"

The man named Isake stepped forward. "Well, Kinami, I think you might be wrong. I think they are squirrel ears."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Please tell me you don't have genin teams; I would feel sorry for them."

"Would you?" Kinami put his arm around Naruto's shoulder. "Or do you actually feel sorry for someone else right now?"

"Maybe yourself?" Isake added.

"Hardly, just for the two of you."

"You can't do anything here, my dog-friend. You might get your team in trouble if the jury finds out you got into a fight with two jounins, trying to bribe them into losing the exams."

Naruto blinked. "Why would I want to do that? If your team loses they did it all because of your bad teaching."

Isake moved his hand to his side, slowly putting his fingers around the handle of a big knife that he wore on the side. "Maybe we should tell the jury we found a spy in our midst, who was trying to sabotage the exams?"

"I-" Naruto started, but was interrupted.

"Sensei!" Eri's voice sounded.

Kenji kicked the ginger haired man behind the knees, making him fall to his knees.

Eri and Ryomaru came running to him as well.

"Naruto-sensei," Eri called, "What's going on?"

Kenji stood beside Isake, watching him closely. "You better not get up," he said.

Eri and Ryomaru moved to Kinami. "You leave our sensei alone!" Eri yelled at the tall man beside her. "We are witnesses if you try to do something stupid!"

"Calm down, Eri-chan, Kenji. You too Ryomaru." Naruto moved away from the railing, and held his hand out to the man on the ground.

Isake looked up and glared at him, slapping his hand away. He stood up and dusted off his knees.

"Come, team," Naruto said. "Nothing interesting going on here."

Eri and Kenji hesitated, before they finally followed Naruto back to the inn.

"I thought you guys were in bed, sleeping," Naruto said.

"You didn't notice us coming, did you?" Eri asked with big eyes.

Naruto tried to keep his face straight.

"He didn't!" Eri said.

"Sensei, what were they doing? Were they threatening you?" Kenji asked.

"Hardly," Naruto said. "Just some jealous men." Naruto stroked his fox ears. "They really wanted to have ears like mine," he grinned.

Eri hit her sensei on the arm. "Seriously! What were they doing?"

Naruto shrugged. "They couldn't have done anything. They just don't like it that they don't have such a wonderful team as I have!" He stopped walking and grabbed all of his students, hugging them. "You are all just so great. Any jounin would want to have a team like mine."

"S-sensei…" Ryomaru stuttered.

"You- Let go, sensei," Kenji muttered, trying to sound annoyed.

"Oh, we love you too sensei," Eri said, the only one hugging Naruto back.

When Naruto let them go, they moved on, back to the inn.

"I was thinking of using the move Ruki used on that tall Kiri ninja, when I saw that man next to sensei," Eri said, moving her hand as if she was attacking someone.

"Hah," Kenji huffed. "That's so stupid. Why would you want to do something like that? He made a fool out of himself, that… Ruki."

"It was cool, you are just too jealous to see it!" Eri told Kenji angrily.

"Ha, jealous? Jealous? Maybe you are in love with that Ruki!"

Eri fell silent. "Am… am not…"

Kenji's eyes widened. "You _do_ like him!"

Eri bit her lip before punching Kenji hard on the arm. "Do not!"

Kenji rubbed his arm, ready to drop the subject. "Sceri," he muttered.

This earned him another blow to the arm.

Kenji turned around, ready to fight back.

"Stop it, you two." Naruto put them apart.

They entered the inn and walked up the stairs.

Naruto closed the door behind the two boys, grinning at them.

"Can't believe he hugged us," Kenji muttered as he went to his bed.

Naruto laughed softly and wished them a good night before heading to his own room, followed by Eri who had a room opposite his. "The third exams will be soon," he said. "Get some rest."

"It's a good thing we saved you, right sensei?" Eri asked before yawning.

"Sure. You have nice dreams," Naruto told her and closed her door. Maybe he should try contact Sasuke.

-x-

Sasuke sat down on the couch, reading a book while Akira was already in bed. Suddenly he heard soft croaking coming from beside him.

He looked down to the floor and noticed a small frog sitting there. "Message," it croaked softly.

Sasuke accepted the small letter it handed to him. "Thank you."

The frog nodded and jumped away.

Sasuke sat up and unrolled the piece of paper.

"_Hey Sasu, team got safely through first two exams. I'm looking forward to training them the next week for the last exam. I'm having fun. Miss you. Say 'hi' to Akira, and don't forget to talk to the tomatoes so they will grow nicely - Naruto."_ Sasuke rolled his eyes. Then he noticed another sentence.

"_Ps. I love you."_

-oXo-


	39. Chapter 39: Third exam

Yay, last exam, finally.

-oXo-

**Chapter 39: Third Exam**

_22__nd__ of March_

Naruto lead his team toward a huge building. It was very high and massive looking. It had been painted white, and had small windows that looked like black holes from down the street. The building consisted out of different volumes that were built against each other, and sometimes overlapped one another.

"So, when I say kappa-two-zero, you will-"

"Cover you and make sure Ryomaru is behind me, I know Kenji, don't worry." Eri shook her head.

"Okay, just asking." Kenji was quiet for a moment and then opened his mouth again. "Formation Z-"

"Kenji, just drop it." Eri was getting annoyed.

Kenji sent her an angry glare, but didn't say anything.

They stepped inside into a small hall, where there were two doors at the end. "Contestants this way," a chuunin was saying, pointing genin teams to the right door.

"Well, I guess I'll be taking the left one then," Naruto said. "See you soon and good luck." He walked away.

"This is it, this is it," Eri muttered. She looked nervous.

"Let's go, Eri-chan," Ryomaru said. He grasped her hand and took her to the door. Kenji was on his other side.

Kenji noted that it seemed like Ryomaru wasn't nervous at all. Maybe what he had done in the second exam had given him more courage; but when they stood in line to go through the door Kenji noticed the tall boy's knees shaking. The green haired boy had probably taken Eri's hand to not only comfort her, but himself as well.

Kenji grinned and looked up. He was confident they would make it.

In line the three looked around and talked a little until they were at the door.

"Team number, country and names."

"Team 9 from Konoha, Buki Eri, Umu Ryomaru and Yamanaka Kenji," Kenji said.

The chuunin looked on his paper and found the names. "Okay, you can enter. Please wait inside until all teams are there."

Fortunately they wouldn't need to wait long for they were one of the lasts in line. There weren't that many teams left.

Inside was another room that was big enough for all the teams to get together, but the ceiling wasn't high, so it felt crowded inside.

"Attention please, everyone. Please stand in queue with your team." A jounin looked lazily around. He had a ninjato sword on his back that he had tied to his belt. It was perpendicular to his body, sticking out on both his sides.

Everyone quickly formed rows. Kenji counted ten teams.

"This is the final exam. The Mizukage shall explain the rules, so please, if you have question, wait till the end of the explanation." The jounin stepped aside and the Mizukage became the new point of focus.

"First of all, well done to get this far. As you might have noticed this year's exams are about team work. This final exam is as well, but it will not be about working with your own team."

"What?" someone shouted.

Eri looked back to Ryomaru, and in front of her Kenji also looked surprised.

The Mizukage cleared her throat, and the muttering and whispering stopped. "Teamwork will still be important, very important, for only an entire team will be able to pass. There will be no individual promotions this year. However, you will most likely not pass with your own team, but with a team we will form here. This machine will randomly pick names."

The Mizukage pointed to a big screen behind her. "The three randomly picked names will form a new team. With that team you will pass or fail this exam. You will need to fight against another newly formed team. The team that wins will most likely pass, but the judges will have the last word on that matter. Winning does not guarantee a promotion. Understood?"

Some genin nodded, others answered with a firm 'yes'.

The Mizukage turned to the board and gave a sign. "In the first team will be…"

A name appeared on the screen.

"Mei from Mizugakure team 12. Along with Ruki from Kusagakure team 3, and Eri from Konohagakure team 9."

Eri's face fell. She was in the first team.

"Good luck," Kenji told her as she passed him to get to her new team.

Ryomaru formed a new team 4 with two people he didn't know; Ayase, a girl from Suna, and Dan, a boy from Kumo.

Kenji got in team 7 with Tado from the other Konoha team, and to his luck also with Ruki's teammate Ruku, the one who had slapped Ryomaru in the face.

When all teams had been formed, the Mizukage stepped forward again. "Now the order of matches will be as follow: team 5 vs 10, 4 vs 9, 3 vs 8, 2 vs 7 and team 1 vs 6." Then she turned around. "Team 5 and 10, please follow me." She walked away toward a door in the back.

The jounin stepped forward again. "The other teams can watch the match from over there." He pointed to another door to their left.

While the Mizukage welcomed everyone into a big dome, all the jounin and other visitors, Ryomaru tried to introduce himself to his new team members. He held out his hand, and the girl Ayase took it.

"Nice to meet you Ryomaru. I´m Ayase from Suna. I'm so glad you two are in my team, you seem both very strong. I wouldn't have wanted to get someone from that Iwa team, they are so creepy. I wouldn't mind that guy from Kumo in my team though," she rambled on.

The other boy and Ryomaru stared at her. "So, you are Dan?" Ryomaru asked the boy.

He nodded.

Ryomaru had no idea what else to say, he wasn't very talkative to begin with. He shyly looked to the floor, while the girl kept talking to him and Dan.

Eri looked up to Ruki. "What a coincidence," she said.

"Quite so," Ruki answered.

"And you two are?" the third team member asked.

"Buki Eri," Eri said proudly. "From Konoha. Nice to meet you." She pushed her hand into the girl's hand.

"I'm Mei. I'm-"

"My mother is also called Mei!" Eri said happily.

The girl's eyebrows rose. "Really?"

Eri nodded. "You must be just as nice as she is," she smiled.

Mei smiled back. "I'm not so sure about that."

"You from Mizu?" Eri asked her.

"Yes, and you?" she asked Ruki.

"I'm Ruki, from Grass." Ruki looked at Mei.

"You two met before?"

"In the first round," Eri replied.

"Well, I'm looking forward to fight along with the two of you," Mei said and turned to watch the first fight.

Kenji stared angrily at the Grass ninja he so very much liked to punch in the face.

Tado from team 5 stepped forward. "I'm Tado, from Konoha. He is Kenji, also from Konoha, but a different team. Who are you?" he politely asked the glaring Grass ninja.

"Ruku," he answered shortly.

"I thought that was the name of the blue guy in your team," Kenji said.

"Blue guy?" Ruku asked.

"You are the green guy, the other is the purple guy."

"That would be Ruko in purple and Ruki in blue."

"No way… Ruku, Ruki and Ruko?" Kenji asked, sniggering. "That's so lame."

The grass ninja frowned. "Wasn't your name Cannotji?"

Kenji glared back. "Haha, it's Kenji!" he said hatefully.

"Calm down, you two. Whatever it is you two want to fight about will have to wait till after our battle." Tado looked from the one to the other, hoping this would end well.

-x-

Naruto leaned against the wall, standing next to some other jounin senseis.

"Which ones are from your team?" a man with dark long hair, tied into a ponytail asked.

Naruto looked up to the man. "Ah, the orange haired boy with the ponytail in team 4, he's over there, the girl with two pigtails in team one, over there, and the tall boy with green hair in team 8, right there." Naruto said, smiling.

"Ah, I've seen them fight in the second exam. They were very good."

Naruto smiled. "I hope they will do fine now as well." Naruto looked at the man, who was a bit older than he was. "And you?"

The man smiled at him. "One of mine is in the same team as your student, the green haired boy."

"Really?" Naruto asked, looking over to the boy named Dan.

"Yes, and the other two are there, in team 8 and the girl in team 10. She's about to fight right now."

"Oh, exciting." Naruto looked down into the arena.

"Right there, she's the one wearing those long pink socks." The man pointed to the girl.

"Oh, I see." Naruto looked up to the man. "I'm Naruto," he said.

"I know; you're quite famous."

Naruto blushed. "Nah…" he rubbed the back of his head.

"Really. You don't have to be embarrassed about it." The man laughed. "I didn't know you were still so young."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Young?"

"You must be 22."

Naruto stared at the man. "22? How'd… you know?" He narrowed his eyes.

"Intuition." The man grinned, and then he held out his hand. "I'm Daisuke."

"I'm bad at guessing ages, so I won't do it," Naruto smiled.

"Haha." Daisuke looked over to the arena. "Getting that genin team is the best thing happening to me," he said softly. "Besides falling in love with that idiot."

Naruto blinked. "What idiot?"

Daisuke pointed to the jounin referee. "I must say coming from different countries doesn't make things easy."

"Him?" Naruto pointed to the man in the arena. He looked at the brunet and his ninjato sword tied to his waist with a nicely decorated belt.

Daisuke blushed and nodded. "Yes, him."

Naruto laughed and Daisuke looked up surprised. "You are blushing," Naruto pointed out.

"Ah… " Daisuke started fiddling. "I don't think that will ever go away."

Naruto smiled. "Might not," Naruto admitted, nodding.

Daisuke watched Naruto for a moment before turning to the battle.

Naruto grinned, thinking of his own 'idiot'.

-x-

Yellow waved in the wind, moving back and forth as the natural element commanded it to do. Between that blond two blue dots became visible, slowly opening to the world. Its bright shining light, its sapphire stare was directed at him. It was warm, and kind.

As the blue now orb-like shapes watched him, studied him, he noticed how the three whisker-like shapes placed, symmetrically below the blue, appeared.

He wanted to touch them, stroke his finger over each line; following it from begin to end, only to do the same with the next line.

Soft, fluffy red fox ears protruded from the yellow, twitching as if they were not sure that they wanted to be seen. Maybe they were adjusting themselves.

He smiled. They were soft, he just knew it. He didn't need to touch them; it was like he could feel it as he watched. Then another wonderful thing happened. Red, two thin, soft red lines came into existence. At first they were firmly pressed together, but once they were used to being there, they slightly parted.

He was drawn to them, wanted to get closer and feel them for real, not just feel them by watching them, but by actually touching them.

However, before he could move, something soft held him in place, he could not get closer.

A soft, bushy, furry red tail with a slightly too white tip pressed against his chest, telling him to stay at that distance.

"I want to touch you," Sasuke told the angelic appearance in front of him.

He saw the mouth, the whisker-lines, the orbs and the yellow move; shaking. It was saying no.

"But I really want to," Sasuke said, his voice showing he really did, sounding almost desperate.

Again it said no, shaking. The tail on his chest pushed him away a little harder, and then it disconnected. The soft hair and the fantastic feeling it had given him on the place where it had touched his skin went with it.

"Please, don't go away!"

The wonderful colours became smaller as they moved away from him. Slowly they became blurry and started to disappear into the blue and lavender sky.

"Come back!" He reached for it, and then he saw a hand, reaching back for his own hand.

His heart started to pound. He reached forward, wanting to pull the other back. Their finger almost touched, and-

"Tou-cha~n?"

Sasuke opened his eyes, slowly waking up. "Yeah?" he asked sleepily, looking around.

Akira stood next to his bed, already dressed. "I need to go to school," he said softly.

Sasuke blinked and slowly got up. "What time is it?" he ribbed his face.

"It's 8," Akira told him.

"What?" Sasuke asked sleepily. He looked around, noticing the sunlight coming into his room, and then saw the time. It was 8 in the morning. Sasuke groaned. He had overslept? That never happened to him. "Wait downstairs, I'll be there in 5 minutes."

Akira nodded and walked away, humming.

Sasuke got out bed and went to the bathroom. How could he have overslept? How could he not have woken up? He always woke up early. Maybe… had he been dreaming? He tried to remember but he could not.

Back in the bedroom, he looked over to the bed. It was empty. No Naruto. He sighed and got dressed. Downstairs Akira was standing in the open door, looking outside. He already had his backpack on his back.

"You made lunch as well?" Sasuke asked, pulling on his sandals.

"Yes," Akira said. "Hurry!" He jumped up and down impatiently.

"Okay, let's go." Sasuke got up, closed the door behind him, and followed a rapid walking Akira. "You will not be late," Sasuke told him.

Akira didn't answer.

"I'll be going on a mission today, so Ino will pick you up from school."

Akira stopped his hasty walking and turned around, looking up. "I'm going to Ino-san's house?" Sasuke nodded. Akira smiled and started walking again. "I've never been there."

"I guess not," Sasuke said with an almost bored tone.

When they arrived at the gate of the school, Sasuke kissed his son goodbye. "See you in about a week."

Akira hugged his father. "Be careful."

Sasuke grinned. "Have fun with Ino; and Naruto will probably come home soon too."

Akira nodded and walked on to the schoolyard, waving goodbye to Sasuke.

Sasuke turned around and walked away. He had to hurry up, and get to the agreed meeting spot with the other ANBU. So instead of walking back through the streets, he jumped up to the roofs and got home a lot quicker, jumping from house to house.

Quickly he took a shower, and put on his ANBU uniform. Lastly he put on the grey arm guards before he looked around. He was ready to go. Yesterday he had already checked his waist pouches, his kunai and shuriken. So he got his katana and his mask, and headed downstairs to the kitchen.

There he got some paper and ink, and sat down at the table, writing a letter to Naruto. He wrote that he was on a mission, and would probably not return before Naruto got back, how Akira was doing at school, that he thought it was regrettable he would have to wait longer to see Naruto again, and hoped he and his team were doing alright.

Finally he put the ink away, folded the letter and put it in the orange dictionary on the bookshelf. They had done this before, so he knew Naruto would find it; even though he noticed the last note he had written was still in the book.

He left it there, letting Naruto decide what to do with it when he got home.

Attaching his katana to his belt, he picked up his bird mask, and walked to the back of the house, into the garden. He looked around for a moment before heading to the vegetable garden. There he stopped at the tomato plant, and stared at it for some time.

"G…" he said, hesitating. He frowned and bit his lip. He could do it. Naruto had asked him to…

He took a deep breath and opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

He balled his fists as he looked at the ground.

Naruto did it all the time, he could do it too. He looked up to the red fruit. "Gr-" he said again, but stopped. He shook his head and turned away. He couldn't do it after all.

Then he looked down at the Eagle mask in his hand, watching the beak and the purple markings curling over the white mask. There were three lines on the cheeks, very much like Naruto's facial markings, except these were purple and slightly ellipse shaped with a curl at the end. He had made them himself.

He put the mask over his face and turned back to the plant. "Grow well."

He quickly turned around and jumped away. He would _never_ do that again!

-x-

Naruto was biting his nails as he saw Ryomaru and his new team trying to fend off the other team, who seemed to be working along a lot better.

"Come on," Naruto muttered. "Ryomaru, you can do it, you showed how much you've grown."

Daisuke standing next to Naruto, grinned as he looked at the blond. His tail was low, almost between his legs, twitching every now and then. His fox ears low on his head. He was nervous.

Daisuke couldn't help but snigger at the sight.

Naruto heard that and looked up to the older man. "What?" he asked.

Daisuke pointed at Naruto. "You're nervous."

"Of course I am," Naruto huffed. "I really want them to become chuunin. You don't?"

"Of course, but I don't worry much. If Dan fails, he'll try again next year. He will have learned from this experience, and I know it will fire him up even more to try his best and become a chuunin. So one way or the other… I trust him."

"Well," Naruto muttered. "It's not like I don't trust Ryomaru, or any of his teammates. I just…"

"You don't seem to be the type to be nervous," Daisuke noted.

Naruto grinned. "No." Suddenly Naruto laughed. "No, not at all."

Naruto turned his head back to the match. It seemed like the three team members were not shy to each other, or did not want to cooperate, but they weren't working as a team. The girl kept favouring to fight along the other boy, while her fighting style was better suited to fight along Ryomaru. The boy, Dan, tried to lead the team, that much was obvious, but either the girl didn't listen to him, or he gave the wrong orders.

Ryomaru was keeping to the back a bit too much, and Naruto knew it was because he wasn't sure what was expected from him in the new team. Ryomaru liked certainty, to know what was happening. He did not right now.

It seemed like the girl finally got some sense when she noticed two ninja of the other team heading for Ryomaru, having spotted their weak point. She threw a smoke bomb and took Dan into it. Ryomaru followed the two.

"Oh, this looks promising," Daisuke said.

Naruto's ears slowly went up. "They finally noticed."

Indeed they had. Inside the cloud the three of team 4 huddled together. The girl turned to Dan, recognizing him as leader. "What shall we do? We need to change tactics."

Dan nodded, deciding he wouldn't get on the wrong side of this girl now she was finally cooperating.

"I have a plan," he said, "but it is all up to you two if it will work out."

The other two nodded. "Tell us."

The smoke cleared, and no one was in sight. The other team had retreated as well, waiting for the smoke to clear instead of being lured into a trap.

The three boys on the other team were hiding behind some bushes forming a new plan as well.

Naruto looked over to Daisuke for a moment before looking over to Eri and Kenji. They were both watching the match, and talking to their new team, probably thinking up strategies.

Naruto smiled, and hoped his students would be smart enough to listen to their new team members.

-x-

Sasuke sat down on a branch, listening to his fellow ANBU member as he told him the coordinates they were heading to.

When he finished, Sasuke nodded and jumped off. They would all get closer to the target from different directions.

Sasuke didn't think this would be a difficult mission. It was a joined mission with Kiri, so beside their three Konoha ANBU there were also three Kiri ANBU. That all to capture a rogue female ninja; that should be more than enough to get her alive.

He jumped from branch to branch, keeping the same speed and a low profile. He was very good at stealth. He was sometimes even able to get past Naruto unnoticed, and that said something.

Sasuke finally came near the coordinates, and waited until he got the signal to move. He noticed a Kiri ANBU not too far from his position.

Kiri had asked Konoha to help them catch this missing kunoichi, probably only because she was in Konoha land. Sasuke was quite sure they would otherwise never have asked their neighbouring country's help.

Sasuke looked at the masked man as he softly came closer to him, and finally sat down on the same branch he was on. The mask reminded him of Haku, whom he had fought so long ago.

The ANBU held up his hand and signed something to him. Sasuke nodded and understood what his plan was.

-x-

Ryomaru, Dan and a wounded Ayase held up their hands as they had narrowly won the battle. Ayase's arm was bleeding quite a bit, but she refused to be treated by Ryomaru at this time, because they should celebrate.

Naruto loudly clapped at the teamwork, which had been flawed, but had gotten them through nonetheless.

The next match didn't involve his students, so Naruto had gone down to greet and congratulate Ryomaru.

"Sensei," Ryomaru said between breaths, "I might have won this battle, b-but that doesn't say I'm a chuunin now."

"That doesn't matter, Ryomaru, I'm already glad you were able to win the fight like this. You did very well."

Naruto and Ryomaru talked for a bit longer before Naruto went back up, for Kenji's match was about to start.

Kenji and his team stepped into the arena. Naruto noticed the looks Kenji and Ruku exchanged, filled with hatred, and bit his lip. If only they could let it pass for now.

However, he was very surprised to see that as soon as the match started, they all worked together with a plan they had come up. Naruto became very excited when he saw they were doing really well fighting the other team. He didn't know if it had been Kenji, or Tado who had made them work together, but he knew the fight was going better than that of Ryomaru had. The other team was working quite well together too, so it wasn't like they had already won anything, but at least their teamwork was good.

Kenji didn't like that he had to work together with Ruku, but Tado had made clear their fight could wait, and he was right.

Luckily he had been able to come up with some strategy to fight and get along together, which had made him the leader of this team. Kenji smirked as he swung his fist toward his enemy. He would prove to the arena he could lead a team, that they worked together nicely, make them win the battle, and thus become a chuunin.

His strategy worked out nicely, and he only had to add a new part to it at one certain time. Ruku and Tado immediately followed his orders. Kenji felt like he was in his element; everything went like he wanted it to.

Maybe things went too easy. The other team worked together very well too, and they had changed their fighting tactics.

The new team 7 pulled back for a moment.

"What now?" Tado asked, hoping Kenji had a new plan.

"We will face them head on."

"What?" Tado asked. "No, that would be-"

"A good idea," Ruku finished. He hated to admit it, but his fighting style was similar to Kenji, and he also knew that what Kenji came up with was the right choice to take.

Kenji nodded. "They think they can beat us like that, but we have the advantage. It shows they are better at midrange fighting. Every one of us can beat one of them."

"I'll take the tall one," Ruku said. "I'm best suited to fight him."

"No, I will," Kenji said.

Ruku frowned. "That makes no sense; you're better suited to fight one of the other two. The tall one is too strong for you, you can-"

"No, I'll take the tall one, Tado the right one, and you the left one."

"I take the right?" Tado asked.

"Yes, you're water jutsu can counter his fire jutsu."

Tado nodded.

"Okay, let's go." Kenji went away, going for the direct attack.

Ruku still frowned. "He's making a mistake, that arrogant…" He muttered something. "He just wants to show off, that loser."

The other two followed Kenji.

Along the side-line, Naruto saw the decision the three had made and had heard their discussion. Ruku was right, Kenji was making a mistake only to sooth his arrogant and pride nature. Slowly he shook his head.

Kenji smirked as he saw the tallest genin coming straight for him. He would show he could beat the strongest one of the other team. That he could be a leader _and_ a good fighter.

Suddenly he stopped. He saw a flash of memory in which Eri was bleeding, a deep wound bleeding. He remembered how the mission had gone wrong because he thought he could handle things. He had felt bad, really awful. He had made a promise… he would never let anything like that happen again.

He took a single step back and then averted away from his path, toward Ruku. "Ruku, take the middle."

Instead of charging straight for the most difficult to beat member of the other team, Kenji now took the one on the left side.

He'd said he wouldn't let his arrogance, his pride get in the way of his mission anymore. He had promised he would protect his team. _This_ was his team now. He had to protect them too, even if he didn't like every one of them. He realized the boy on the left was someone better suited to his fighting style, and Ruku was also better fit to take on the tall man.

Ruku nodded and went to the middle. By accident this exchange worked to their advantage, confusing their enemy.

Their attack proved to be a success as they won the match easily. Kenji grinned at Tado, who congratulated the orange haired boy, and finally Kenji was able to do what he had wanted to do all along. When they were in the back, he punched Ruku in the face.

Lying on the floor, Ruku had absolutely not seen the blow coming. He looked up angrily. "What was that for? We won didn't we?"

Kenji rubbed his fist. "This wasn't for the match we have just won; this was for slapping my best friend in the face."

Kenji smirked and walked away, wanting to see Ryomaru and talk about their battles.

-x-

They had engaged in battle with the very skilled kunoichi. She was a very good jutsu user and Sasuke saw now why they needed so many ANBU to capture her alive. If they had to kill her, this mission would have been easier, but this kunoichi didn't want to be captured; dead or alive.

Sasuke raised his katana, ready to swing it at her legs. If she couldn't walk, she would be a lot easier to capture.

Things didn't really look good. The Kiri ANBU had at first tried to cooperate with Konoha, but when they almost had her, they decided to do things on her own. This caused for one Kiri ANBU to be killed, one other to be badly wounded, he might never see with his left eye again, and one Konoha ANBU to have a few broken ribs.

The wounded Konoha ANBU was also their medic, and was now trying to heal the Kiri ANBU, but that meant only three ANBU were left.

"Why don't you let me put her in a Mental Pause with my jutsu?" Sasuke's fellow ANBU, Crow, asked the Kiri ANBU.

"No!" he said, avoiding a doton jutsu.

Crow's Mental Pause jutsu, one from the Nara clan, was a jutsu that took some time to settle in, but once it did, the caster was able to get into the mind of his opponent and sort of put his brain in an almost comatose state, which he could lift any moment he wanted. However, Sasuke started to realize that Kiri did not want the Konoha ANBU to mess with the woman's brain. The comatose state might damage her brain if she resisted too much. They probably wanted information from her and it had to be intact.

Sasuke missed her legs, but she had no idea he hadn't been aiming at her legs with his katana. That was just a diversion, for now she had jumped into the air, and one can't move into just any direction at such a moment. Quickly he swung his arm at her legs, lightning coming from his hand and forming into a new weapon; a lightning blade.

The kunoichi couldn't completely avoid his attack, but Sasuke's intention had been to wound both her legs, and she was able to save one leg. She quickly jumped away from him when she landed, leaving a trail of blood behind her.

"I'll get you for this," she said, "My beautiful leg!"

"I've seen nicer legs," Sasuke taunted her.

The woman made a scary face, showing she absolutely hated Sasuke.

"You filthy chicken!" she said, indicating to his bird's mask.

Sasuke smirked behind his mask. Words didn't hurt him, nor provoke him.

He ran to her once more, ready to finish his job before she could finish the hand signs she was making. He could easily make it before she would finish them; he saw so with his Sharingan.

"Wait! Sasuke! I know who she is!" Sasuke looked left to where their medical ANBU was kneeling; his rabbit mask turned to him. "Don't think of anyone!"

This interference made Sasuke slow down ever so slightly, and the woman was able to finish her jutsu.

The thing is, when you ask someone _not_ to do something, _not_ to think of something, he will. Say 'Don't think of a pink elephant,' and one will think of a pink elephant.

So Sasuke couldn't help but think of someone, who was always in his heart, someone he constantly thought of, even without realizing.

The jutsu hit him, and at first he though nothing had happened. He swung his katana at the woman, her reaction slower because she had not expected him to be able to continue after having cast her jutsu.

Sasuke scratched her arm. His aim was off, and what he saw wasn't corresponding with what he should see.

He saw kids, fighting; a young ninja clad in blue, a girl with a big purple bow in her long brown hair and a brown haired girl with two braids he recognized.

Inside the forest? How was that possible? He took a step back, and without his control he dropped his katana.

The kids were fighting another team inside an arena. It was very, very loud in that arena. His hand moved up to cover his ears to keep the sound out, but it didn't help.

In the forest he saw how Crow went after the kunoichi with the other Kiri ANBU. Rabbit was next to him. "I told you not to think of anyone!"

Sasuke spoke, but his voice was not his. "That's impossible."

He blinked and saw a man with dark long hair, tied into a ponytail move toward him and put his hands on his shoulders. "Are you alright?"

The ANBU disappeared completely from his vision, and Sasuke couldn't take the loud noise anymore. "Too loud." He closed his eyes.

The man bit his lip. "Maybe you should try covering your other pair of ears, Naruto?"

Sasuke looked up. "Naruto?" he asked.

-oXo-

A/N: Finally, exams are almost over… phew. Now just the results ^^

Next chapter… might very well be the last one of Kodomotachi…

Please review?


	40. Chapter 40: The last laugh Part I

So... It appears that I am not dead. I'm really sorry for the long wait, but it's a long chapter. Does that make up a little?

Thank you to everyone who started following the story and/or reviewed! :D And thanks to MS3923 for beta-ing this for me.

-oXo-

**Chapter 40: The last laugh Part I  
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_22__nd__ of March_

Naruto stared at the ANBU man with a rabbit mask who was standing in front of him. "Who are you?" he asked the man. Then he looked around and noticed he was standing in a forest, he also was wearing a mask, and his vision was… strange. "Where am I?" A much deeper voice than his normal one sounded from behind the mask.

"Please calm down, Taka-san. You were-"

"Taka? You mean Sasuke?" Naruto asked. This voice… it wasn't his… it actually sounded like…

"Calm down, I'll explain everything. Who are you?" Rabbit asked.

"Naruto," Naruto answered, sounding confused as he kept glancing around at his surroundings.

Rabbit nodded as if he had expected that answer. "Naruto-san, you are now inside Sasuke's body."

"Huh?" Naruto was confused. He had been inside an arena watching Eri fight, and now he was inside a forest… in Sasuke's body?

"Yes, our mission was to capture a kunoichi, she-"

"Don't tell a stranger about this mission," the wounded Kiri ANBU said to Rabbit's left. Naruto watched the wounded ninja hold his arm.

"Naruto-san is a respected shinobi in our village; he knows to keep his mouth. And I think he has the right to know what happened to him," Rabbit said back sternly.

Naruto looked over to Rabbit, and blinked. He put his hand over his eyes. Why was he seeing…?

"Gah," he suddenly said as he realized this must be the Sharingan. He opened his eyes again and looked around. Things looked so different, yet the same, but much more beautiful, more colourful, livelier.

"So, I switched bodies with Sasuke because he was so stupid to get hit by a jutsu?" Naruto asked, still looking around. He could see the leaves on the tree move before they actually did.

"Yes, Narut… Taka-san."

Naruto looked over to Rabbit. "I'll continue the mission if that is necessary." This somehow excided him. He had never tagged along with an ANBU mission… let alone in Sasuke's body. This was both exciding and his duty as a Konoha shinobi.

Rabbit stared at him, his eyes widened behind his mask. Naruto seemed to have adapted to this situation quite fast. "Taka-san, you must know you are not used to this body, and you can't use the jutsu you normally use." Rabbit obviously wasn't sure if it was a good idea for Naruto to continue the mission, but he had never worked with Naruto before so how would he know how stubborn and determined Naruto really was.

"I know Sasuke inside and out, I can handle this. Besides we need to find out how the kunoichi can switch us back, right?" Naruto looked down upon his hand as he opened and closed it. It felt like he was watching someone else's hand move, or when looking at yourself in a dream. It wasn't real, but at the same time it was; he was both in this body and he was not.

Rabbit stared at the man he knew, or he thought he knew, for this wasn't really the raven haired man he had done several missions with. His appearance was the same, but on the inside he was really a different person. The way Naruto moved Sasuke's body was differently than he normally did, a bit less graceful, not as thought through as usual. His voice sounded much more cheerful and he talked a lot more openly too. When he touched the opening and closing hand of this man, the touch felt warmer. It wasn't the man's skin, it was as cold as usual; it was not the temperature that was warmer, but something else. Rabbit couldn't explain.

Naruto looked up into the shadowed brown eyes behind the rabbit mask when he felt the hand touching his own.

"Alright, you can come." Apparently the touch had persuaded the shinobi. "The two of us have a plan," Rabbit said, indicating the wounded Kiri ANBU and himself.

Naruto nodded. "Okay, tell me."

-x-

Sasuke sat down on a chair in the back. The man next to him looked worriedly at him. "Is it better here?"

Sasuke nodded. The sound was less overwhelming here. He tried not to suppress the urge to reach up to the extra pair of ears and lay his hands on top of them. "Who are you anyway?" he asked rudely instead, not liking the way how the man touched Naruto's body so familiarly.

"I'm Daisuke, I'm also a jounin that has a genin team participating in the exams."

Sasuke nodded, but didn't trust this man yet. "Hm." He looked at the dark skinned man; his long hair tied into a ponytail. He seemed kind… and Sasuke wasn't impressed by it. He looked down at the floor while his fingers entangled, his elbows resting on his knees.

Daisuke bit his lip. Naruto's posture had changed so drastically from that of a few moments ago. "Uh… eh… can I ask you what-"

Sasuke looked up. He could still hear the cheering inside the arena as if he was standing in it. He could also hear this man's heart beat loudly in his chest. Sasuke wasn't sure if it was really sounding so loud or if it was just him and his… 'new' ears. It was a miracle Naruto hadn't gone crazy yet, but it also explained how very well Naruto could hear everything.

"I'm not Naruto," Sasuke said, almost grumbling.

The man wanted to take a step back; this change in Naruto was huge and did not fit him well at all. "You eh… Does Naruto have… multiple personalities?" Daisuke asked. He absolutely had no idea what was going on, and he actually feared he might be talking to the monster fox he knew had been sealed into this man a long time ago.

This was not a question Sasuke had expected. "What?" Sasuke frowned and closed his eyes. He was feeling dizzy. "No, I'm Sasuke."

"Sasuke?" Daisuke frowned. "What are you talki-" He feared he was right.

Sasuke sighed, opened his eyes and slowly looked up to the tall man in front of him. He stood up and still had to look up to the man. Naruto was so much shorter than he was used to be, even though Naruto wasn't really that short at all. Even though Naruto was just about 15 cm shorter, to him it felt like he had become two heads shorter.

"I'm Sasuke. I was on a mission, but got hit by a jutsu. I think Naruto and I have changed bodies." He had not planned to tell the man this, but it had left his mouth before he had realised.

"Switched bodies?" the man asked. Obviously the man was confused. Had Naruto changed bodies with the fox… but how could it have been on a mission. And why was it calling itself Sasuke. Did Naruto give the fox a name? Like a pet? This was absurd.

Suddenly his eyes widened. "Wait…" he said softly. "Sasuke… as in Uchiha Sasuke? Something like that is possible?" he asked the blond.

Sasuke didn't feel like answering and turned away from the man. "Where's Naruto's team? What is going on here?"

Daisuke watched the sitting man for a moment before he explained about the third exam, and how Kenji and Ryomaru had already won their battles.

"Take me to them," Sasuke ordered.

Daisuke nodded and walked off in front of Sasuke.

Sasuke was able to quickly adapt to Naruto's shorter arms and legs. He had to take smaller paces and had to look up more instead of looking down. He wasn't used to it, and frankly he hated it. He liked looking down on things.

However, the ears and the tail were an entirely different story. It was such a very strange sensation. He hadn't figured out how he could move the tail yet, sometimes it just did accidentally, but he tried to let it hang down so it wouldn't get in his way. He knew the ears were almost flat on his head since he had not entirely got used to the loud noise yet, but he noticed he was adapting; filtering out the sounds he wanted to hear.

When they got to his team, the two boys standing together watching Eri's fight, Sasuke cleared his throat.

The two genin looked up to their sensei. Sasuke thanked the man, and told him he could go.

Daisuke was surprised at this and decided to wait on some distance just in case.

"Sensei, why aren't you watching Eri?" Kenji asked arrogantly. It was in a way he never talked to Sasuke, and frankly, Sasuke didn't really like it. He had become used to the respect the kids held toward him. Naruto should hold them on a tighter leash.

Ryomaru glanced over to his teammate, before he noticed the look on Naruto's face. "Naruto-sensei?" he asked. He was getting a bit worried.

"You two, come with me," Sasuke grumbled. He didn't feel like talking to these two, but he needed to explain the situation to them, and he was quite certain Naruto would do something awful to him (like not hug him for an entire day or worse… a week) if he didn't explain things to his team.

"Sensei?" Kenji asked, finding it strange that his sensei was frowning and ordering them away from the fight. He and Ryomaru exchanged looks before following their sensei.

Sasuke lead them into a small room, and closed the door behind them. "Listen, I'll only say this once, and I don't want any of you spreading this around."

Kenji and Ryomaru again exchanged looks. The tone in Naruto's voice was so serious; what was happening?

"This is an S-rank-"

"Naruto-sensei… a-are you alright?" Ryomaru dared to ask.

Sasuke frowned as he had been interrupted. "I'm not Naruto, nor your sensei."

Kenji and Ryomaru stared at the blond man in front of them.

"Huh?" Kenji asked, raising an eyebrow. "Who then?" He was sensing a prank.

"I'm Sasuke." Sasuke was already getting tired of explaining this, and this had only been the second time he had to say it. Why didn't people believe him when he said… because he was in Naruto's body and Naruto was known for his joking around. Sasuke closed his eyes for a second.

"What?" Kenji asked, and Ryomaru snorted very softly. Kenji was getting impatient. This really wasn't the time for jokes.

Sasuke frowned and narrowed his eyes. "I was on a mission, in which I got caught in a jutsu. Naruto and I have changed bodies."

The two genin had a hard time believing this, but then they saw Naruto's frown form into a shape they had never seen, and Kenji's mouth fell open. "Nooo," he said softly. "Sasuke-sama?" He knew that frown out of thousands. He was an absolute fan- no not fan. Sasuke was his hero, his example, the very image of a shinobi he wished to be one day.

Ryomaru looked at Kenji. If he believed this story… then probably it wasn't a prank after all… Sasuke was a much too important person too Kenji that Ryomaru doubted he would just fall for Naruto's prank like that.

"I need to get back to Naruto… to my own body," Sasuke said.

"But the exam is still going on, it's almost finished! You need to stay until they have decided who's been promoted to chuunin and who isn't!" Kenji said, already talking like Naruto wasn't here. Ryomaru stared at the quick adaptive ability of Kenji whenever Sasuke was involved. He was still having trouble picturing Naruto as Sasuke though.

Sasuke thought this over. He didn't agree, and would prefer to go directly to Naruto, but saw no other way than to do as Kenji had said. Even though they were perfectly capable of taking care of themselves, they were still just genin; and as genin their sensei, which now happened to be him, had to look after them.

He mentally sighed and hoped Naruto was able to make them change back soon.

-x-

Naruto stumbled again over his own feet, or more accurately, Sasuke's feet. Why did he have such long legs and such big feet? He was so tall all of a sudden, and it was almost like he'd gone deaf. Sasuke's ears weren't working to Naruto's standards. He realized how much he had gotten used to the fox ears and how much he depended on them. These ears didn't catch the subtle sound of the wind, the leaves moving or ninja's approaching from meters away.

However, his eye-sight had greatly improved. It gave him a headache though. Every bit of chakra was visible to him and since he wasn't used to it, he kept seeing the delayed, or actually predicted, movements of Rabbit and the Kiri ANBU. It had made him dizzy.

Before he could figure out how it worked, he had somehow managed to turn off the Sharingan.

"You sure you're alright?" Rabbit asked when he saw Naruto stumble.

"Fine, I just need to get used to Sasuke's body. It moves differently." He thought he was getting the hang of it, and especially now that he was looking through dark eyes and things had stopped dancing before his eyes.

Rabbit had no idea what it was like to be inside someone else's body, so he didn't say anything. Would it be the same as the Yamanaka clan's famous jutsus? Maybe the answer of returning them to their original bodies would be easier than he thought.

"I don't think it's a good idea to take him along," the Kiri ANBU softly stated his complaint once more.

"I'll be fine," Naruto grinned. "I'm actually starting to enjoy this. So many… opportunities," Naruto's foxy grin was not visible to his surroundings, but Rabbit could feel the air radiating from him. Naruto was already thinking of the pranks, the jokes, opportunities… opportunities everywhere…

Suddenly they heard a sound coming from the left. They immediately stopped moving.

It were Crow and the Kiri ANBU, except that… Crow was hanging motionless over the Kiri ANBU's shoulder.

"What happened?" Rabbit asked, jumping down, checking Crow. He was dead.

"He killed her, and then he died due to his wounds."

"What?" Naruto asked, looking over to Rabbit. "Killed who…?"

"He killed the rogue kunoichi who cast the jutsu," Rabbit explained softly as he gently took Crow's head in his hands.

Naruto stared. "But I'm still…"

The Kiri ANBU lowered Crow to the ground. "You're still what?"

"I'm still in this body…" Naruto said softly.

The Kiri ANBU stared at him. "What? You changed bodies?" Naruto nodded. Then the Kiri ninja turned to Rabbit. "What?" He asked angrily.

Rabbit nodded and let Crow be, seeing he couldn't be helped anymore. "He did."

"And you haven't changed back yet?"

"I just said that, didn't I?" Naruto walked over to the two. "How do I switch back?"

The Kiri ANBU looked over to his partner. "I… I don't know," he said honestly. The other ANBU shrugged too.

"Hm… guess I'll… have to be in this body for a bit longer then."

No one said anything.

Both the Kiri ANBU walked away; they would get the body of the kunoichi and go home. Naruto looked down to Crow and Rabbit. "I thought ANBU regulations about death were…"

Rabbit nodded. "They are. I'll follow it up, and then we'll go back to Konoha." The ANBU waited before the two Kiri ANBU were out of sight before he got a scroll from his weapons pouch.

Naruto started to lean on his other leg. "Wait… I want to meet Sasuke. I'll go to the chuunin exams, you can go if you want, and report to the Hokage."

Rabbit shook his head as his hands formed seals. "No. We don't know what this jutsu will do. Maybe it slowly turns you back. I will need to keep an eye on you... besides, I don't want to tell the Hokage about this; she might kill me."

Naruto laughed at Rabbit's honesty. "I can handle myself though. Even if I'm in Sasuke's body… I think I'll manage. But, if you insist…"

Rabbit nodded. "Alright, then it's decided. I'll go with you." No way in hell he would tell Tsunade Naruto and Sasuke had exchanged bodies and they didn't know how to turn it back. The most likely successor of her position, a shinobi dear to her, like family, was now in the body of the man… Well, you figure it out.

Naruto smiled and jumped away, Rabbit rolled up his scroll and followed him, leaving the empty forest behind.

Naruto really looked forward to see Sasuke again, after having to miss him for so long, but it was strange to think he would not really have to meet Sasuke… but himself…

-x-

Sasuke looked down as a lobster red Eri stood in front of him. He frowned. When he and the two boys had come from the room, Eri had finished her battle. Apparently she had lost.

"What happened?" Kenji asked.

Eri looked up, angrily. "Nothing!"

Kenji's eyes widened. He had not expected this reaction.

"Uh… Eri?" he asked carefully.

"I don't want to talk about it." She crossed her arms, and glanced over to Ruki, got even redder and turned away. "Let's go."

"We still have to wait for the results," Kenji said, watching Eri's back.

"Oh, right." Eri slowly looked up to a frowning Naruto. He had his arms crossed as well. "You eh… angry I lost? Naruto-sensei?" Eri asked, disappointed to see Naruto had a frown on his face.

Sasuke didn't answer, for he was not listening and didn't listen to the name Naruto.

"Sensei?" Eri asked again.

"Uh, Eri-chan… about sensei…" Ryomaru started softly.

Sasuke finally looked down. "Hn?"

Eri bit her lip and then hugged Sasuke. "I'm sorry, don't be mad I lost!"

Sasuke blinked, and Kenji and Ryomaru watched in horror, afraid what Sasuke's reaction might be.

Sasuke slowly pushed Eri away from his body. "We need to talk."

Eri's face fell. "I… you _are_ angry?" She bit her lip and looked down sadly.

"It's not like that," Kenji said, seeing this might get interpreted in a wrong way, and ultimately leading in a dark scenario.

"You must keep this a secret," Sasuke said, hoping he could handle this quickly and quietly.

"Keep what a secret?" Eri asked confused, looking up.

Sasuke saw the sad look in the deep brown eyes. "I'm not Naruto."

Eri stared at her sensei. "That's not funny at all." She looked over to Kenji and Ryomaru. "You thought I would fall for this? That this would cheer me up?" She looked around angrily to Naruto, or so she thought he was. Then she hit him on the arm, quite hard.

Sasuke actually flinched in surprise and looked down with a slight stunned look on his face while Kenji and Ryomaru looked somewhat shocked at Eri's action.

"She hit Sasuke-sama," Ryomaru said softly, sounding shocked.

"Who?" Eri asked, looking around to Ryomaru with an angry face. Ryomaru cringed behind Kenji. "You guys are into this as well?" She looked back up to her apparent sensei. "Joke's over, you guys are horrible!" She crossed her arms and wanted to turn away, but Sasuke grabbed her arm, preventing her from leaving.

"You will listen to me; I'm not Naruto, but Sasuke-"

"Stop sayin-" Eri protested, but Sasuke gripped her a bit firmer, which made Eri look up with a mix of anger and confusion.

"Naruto and I switched bodies. I got hit by a jutsu on a mission. We will wait for the results of the chuunin exams to be announced, and then immediately get back to Konoha."

Eri stared at Sasuke. "You mean…" She looked over to Kenji and Ryomaru, who both nodded, then she looked back. "You're saying you are Sasuke-sama, and that Naruto-sensei is in your body?"

Sasuke gave a firm, short nod.

Eri kept staring at him, even when Sasuke had let go of her arm. Ryomaru slowly came from behind Kenji's back.

Finally Eri seemed to calm down and her body relaxed. "You are all crazy, this is the stupidest joke I've ever heard from you!" She pointed to Sasuke, who raised his eyebrows ever so slightly. Then she turned to Kenji and Ryomaru, who looked back with surprise on their faces. "And you still join in on sensei's prank. Or do you really believe it?"

It was silent for a while. They all stared at one another, not saying anything.

Then Sasuke sighed. "Hn, fine." He turned away. He didn't need to convince Eri; as long as she cooperated with him it was fine. He crossed his arms and turned away.

Eri turned to Ryomaru and Kenji, and hit them hard on the chest, making sure they knew she hadn't appreciated their joke. She walked off, muttering things.

"Well, that went well," Kenji said sarcastically, rubbing his sore chest, coughing softly.

Ryomaru gave him a nervous look. "But you _are_ sure it is Sasuke-sama?"

Kenji nodded. "I would bet all of our lives on it."

Ryomaru nodded. Kenji was serious, blood serious. Then he looked over to the place where Eri had disappeared.

-x-

Naruto turned to Rabbit, the now brown-haired man with hazel coloured eyes and a scar running over his lips. Surprisingly, Naruto had recognized the man when he had taken off his mask. Normally he was quite bad with faces. "We're almost there, Maki. Lucky we were up North of Konoha; closest place in our country to the Kumo border."

Maki nodded. "Indeed."

"I must admit, even though it only lasted for a short while, I enjoyed being an ANBU."

Maki raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Thinking about joining?" He tightened his brown cape around his body, hiding his ANBU gear.

Naruto smiled, which still made Maki slightly nervous. Sasuke's face wasn't supposed to smile like that… not sincerely. "Nah, I need to become Hokage first; after I raised my team. But otherwise… I might have."

Maki grinned. "Naruto-san, I think you would be useful."

"Exactly!" Naruto smiled. Then the smile dropped, and instead he stared at some far away trees. "I wonder what Sasuke's doing with my team right now. I hope he's doing fine…" Naruto turned to Maki. "He doesn't really like having a team," he whispered, "or at least he says so all the time… I'm not sure to believe him."

"Really?" Maki asked. "Whenever he has his own ANBU team and he's in charge… I always believed he likes… bossing people around." The brunet could not look at Naruto's face while he said this, thinking it was strange to look at the person's face he was talking about even though he was not present.

Naruto turned his head to Maki. "Really? I had no idea."

Maki narrowed his eyes. He hadn't noticed? He lived with the raven, how could he not- Maki shook his head, Naruto was known to be dense. "You didn't?"

Naruto smirked. "Well, I always suspected… but he's always so different around me."

This somehow interested Maki. "How so?" Did Sasuke have a soft side to him after all?

"Ah, he's not so harsh… or maybe he is… but it's different… I can't really explain." Naruto smiled. "He usually kept to the background when we went on missions with others that don't belong to our team. It's like he wanted to distance himself as much as possible. Though I do think him commanding people around suits him."

Maki nodded. "It does, somehow. He has the right personality. He will easily make people follow him. If it wasn't for Captain Kiki, I'm sure he would-"

"Captain who?"

"Sasuke's… and my… our captain. The short old woman that looks like-"

"A schoolgirl. Yeah I've met her." Naruto frowned remembering the flirting woman trying to touch Sasuke as much as she could. He wasn't even aware that he growled softly.

Maki stared at Naruto. "You eh… alright? You hate her that much?"

Naruto turned his head to Maki. "What?"

Maki stared back. It seemed like Naruto had no idea he had been growling. Sasuke being jealous didn't really surprise him, but this was Naruto… "Never mind."

Naruto shrugged. "Let's hurry, I want to meet Sasuke. We've been apart for so loooong."

"You're closer to him now then you'll ever be," Maki said.

Naruto's dark eyes widened and then he smirked. It was not the same smirk Sasuke would show every now and then. Then it disappeared. "No, you're quite wrong. I might be in Sasuke's body, but he is still far away from me."

Maki looked back to the road. "Right." He didn't think he really understood Naruto, but on the other hand he might.

-x-

Kenji glanced over to Eri, who sat against a wall, hugging her knees while offering him and Ryomaru an angry, slightly evil, and actually surprisingly scary glance every now and then.

"She s-still doesn't believe us."

Kenji looked down to Ryomaru who sat on the ground, not surprised his stutter had returned. "Hm, like I care." Kenji turned his head away from Eri and thus also away from Ryomaru.

Ryomaru looked down before he turned to look over at Eri. She had refused to talk to them, or anyone else, and Sasuke was acting like he didn't even care what Eri did or didn't do.

After the last matches had ended, the Mizukage had told everyone they had done well and that she would announce who would had become chuunin the next day (much to Kenji's disappointment). She first needed to discuss her decisions with a jury consisting of ninja from every village.

So when they had heard they had nothing else to do for the next 24 hours, team 9 and Sasuke had gone back to the inn. Sasuke had gone straight to his room, his ears lowered, and tail almost sadly hanging between his legs. The three were outside in front of the inn. Eri had refused to talk to the two boys, but for some reason they hadn't been able to leave her all by herself.

Ryomaru looked back to Kenji, up to his standing form as he leaned against the wall, his long leather coat weaving slowly in the soft breeze. "What do you think he's doing?"

Kenji turned to Ryomaru, looking down unto the green haired boy. "Who?" he asked confused.

"S-Sasuke-sama."

Kenji followed Ryomaru's look at the window to Sasuke's room as well. "I don't know." Then he turned back to Eri. "I wonder why she lost… How, I mean, and why she doesn't want to talk about it."

"Maybe because… because she's angry at us for thinking we were joking around?" Ryomaru said, not really asking even though his voice went up.

Kenji kept silent. Ryomaru was probably right. "But still…" He took a deep breath and stepped to Eri. Ryomaru's eyes widened in fear. "Eri, what happened during your battle?" Kenji asked bluntly.

Eri's evil glare was back online, directed upon Kenji full force. "Like I would tell you!" She spat. She then stood up and walked away.

Ryomaru stared at Kenji's back.

"Stupid… I was just asking," Kenji grumbled.

Ryomaru started fiddling with his shirt. "She… she'll be alright…"

"Hm." Kenji turned to Ryomaru. It bothered him that Eri was angry at him, and even more so that she didn't want to tell them what had happened. Normally she was so talkative, just like Naruto.

He looked down upon Ryomaru's sitting form. The look in his eyes told Kenji he didn't think he had acted properly. Worst thing was… deep inside Kenji knew Ryomaru was right. And ever worse… somehow he didn't like the look Ryomaru gave him. "Let's go."

Ryomaru looked up surprised. "What?"

Kenji had already started walking. "I said 'let's go'."

Stunned, Ryomaru stared at Kenji's back, the black leather coat, before he walked up to Kenji. He wondered if _everyone_ was starting to act strangely today?

-x-

Later that evening Eri noticed Kenji and Ryomaru avoiding each other's eyes. Of course she was still angry at them and thus didn't bother asking about it.

Sasuke entered the small inn, coming off the stairs, didn't bother taking in the atmosphere at the table and ordered his food.

Everyone ate in silence until halfway through Sasuke suddenly spoke up.

"Okay, what's going on?" It might have looked like he didn't care about these kids, but they were Naruto's kids, his team, and he would never say it out loud, but that meant he also felt responsible for them.

Kenji and Ryomaru shrunk a little as they had not heard the ever so slight concern in Sasuke's voice, but Eri just stared at what she thought was her sensei. "You guys are acting stupid," she answered.

Sasuke ignored her, he wasn't talking about her and her thinking he had played a prank on her. Instead he turned his head to his left, to Ryomaru and then his right, to Kenji.

Ryomaru bit his lip, and strangely Kenji avoided Sasuke's eyes. "Tell me, Yamanaka." Sasuke knew how to play Kenji.

Eri rolled her eyes as she thought they were still continuing the prank. Naruto would never call Kenji by his family name.

"We… Ryomaru and I just had a fight, that's all," Kenji said.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and turned to Ryomaru, who couldn't take Sasuke's look, even softened somewhat by the blue eyes, and since Kenji had already started the conversation he could not leave it unfinished. "Wemettheguyswerescuedsenseif romacoupleofdaysagoandtheyto ldus-" he said in one breath before Sasuke stopped him by holding up his hand.

"Wait, Naruto had a fight with some ninjas?"

Kenji hit his head, not believing Ryomaru had said that (nor that Sasuke had actually understood a single word coming from Ryomaru's mouth). "He had some trouble with some men, but we kicked their… we beat them," he said, looking down at the table when Sasuke's met his eyes.

Sasuke did not believe Naruto had really been rescued by his team, but seeing Naruto get into a fight was not that strange. "Hn. And then?"

Eri shook her head as the boys continued to pretend Naruto was actually Sasuke.

Kenji and Ryomaru exchanged looks. Kenji seemed to want Ryomaru to keep quiet, while Ryomaru obviously wanted to talk.

"Tell me," Sasuke said. Something was going on.

Ryomaru won the silent battle, and spoke. "T-they came back an hour a-ago."

Kenji didn't like telling this to Sasuke, but since they had to, he didn't intend to let Ryomaru tell Sasuke. He sighed. "They told us they would pay us back for helping Naruto, and that…" Kenji bit his lip. He didn't want Sasuke to know. They were able to solve their own problems, but Ryomaru thought otherwise.

"T-they said they w-would expel us from the e-exams for it," he said shakily.

Eri suddenly let her angry face drop, and looked up concerned. "What?! They can't!" She turned to the blond. "They can't, right?"

Sasuke slowly narrowed his eyes and even growled softly. When he noticed he did that he immediately stopped. "Don't worry about it, I'll get this thing sorted out. Tell me who they are and what they look like."

Kenji and Ryomaru stared at Sasuke with surprise. Their sensei wouldn't do what they thought Sasuke was about to do right now.

"Uh… Sasuke-sama, you can't-"

Sasuke stood up. "Tell me." The three told him what he wanted to know, Eri believing Naruto just really had forgotten what they looked like, and he walked off, leaving three stunned kids behind.

"Is sensei going to do what I think he's going to do?" Eri asked perplexed, looking over the back of her chair to see the blond leave the inn.

"I don't think it is very justified what he's about to do…" Kenji admitted.

Ryomaru nervously looked from the girl to the boy.

-x-

Sasuke looked around every inn and every café he could find. Maybe these kids were not his team, and he did not pay that much attention to them as he could do, but that didn't mean he would let some adults scare them like this. Telling them they would get dispelled from the exams? That was low, very low.

He knew Naruto would step to the Mizukage, tell her what was going on, let her handle things the 'right' way, but he wasn't Naruto.

Naruto could be soft, and Sasuke admired that about Naruto, it was something he could not do, but at the same time he hated it as well. Naruto was powerful, more powerful than he even knew himself, and he could use that to protect himself and everyone else, but somehow he seemed to refuse that at times. Sasuke would not. Sasuke was not that easily talked over, did not see the good in people like Naruto could, could not forgive that easily, and that was why they were so great together, perfectly balanced.

Sasuke growled softly when he noticed a man with the description he had been given and actually smirked when he saw the second man.

"Let's have some fun."

As he approached the man, walking down the street, they noticed his presence, or his foul chakra, who knows, but they turned around.

"Hey, look who's-"

WHAM.

The man fell to the ground, the other looked up shocked at the blond man, who still had his fist raised. "Now wait a second."

"You threatened my team?"

The standing man was preparing a jutsu, and the one on the ground seemed to do the same.

Sasuke's smirk still intact, he held up his hand. "Let's see if I'm a faster learner than Naruto." He looked down at his outstretched hand as orange chakra started collecting, swirling around, trying to form a ball.

-x-

Ryomaru and Kenji were playing cards when they noticed Sasuke walking into the room. He looked quite alright, except for the left ear, which had a deep cut into it.

Eri jumped up from her chair and gave a soft surprised shriek. "Sensei! You didn't really..?" She seemed to have forgotten all of her anger, and there was actual admiration in her eyes (much to Ryomaru's surprise). She walked over to the blond and looked at his furry ear. "What happened?"

Sasuke noticed her eyes upon the still aching ear. "Miscalculation," he shrugged. He had forgotten about the ears being there, but it was nothing to worry about.

"S-should I take a look at it…?" Ryomaru asked.

Sasuke shook his head. "I'm going to bed. And you should too. Tomorrow the results will be announced." And without another word he walked off.

"But what happened…?" Kenji asked softly, knowing Sasuke could hear it, but would not come back.

When the door closed Eri turned to Ryomaru and Kenji. "You think he really beat them?" she asked surprisingly happy.

Kenji now grinned too. "I sure hope so. That would be so cool."

Ryomaru seemed to be the only one concerned. "You don't think he'll… be in trouble? Or we?"

Now Eri started laughing loudly, surprising both boys even more so. "Haha! You know Naruto-sensei can get out of everything!" She turned away from the two boys and almost skipped to the door. "Goodnight boys."

Ryomaru and Kenji exchanged looks before Kenji grinned and walked off too. "We should follow Sasuke-sama's advice. Let's go to bed too Ryo."

Ryomaru stared at Kenji's back for a second. There was definitely something off today. Eri was silent and angry, kept something a secret from them, Naruto was Sasuke and Sasuke was Naruto, Kenji acted kind to him… Maybe he was dreaming?

-x-

"This is… _really_ strange…" Dark eyes lowered over a whiskered face, seeing familiar blue eyes in a similar familiar frown, two black fluffy ears -one of them had a painful looking tear in them- sticking out between yellow blond spiky hair, his own orange and black clothes, and to top it off, the soft red tail with white tip hanging down sadly.

Naruto lowered his head, closer to his own face, and studied it. "You should frown less, Sasuke."

The frown deepened. Sasuke, his arms crossed, averted his eyes. He didn't like looking up to his own… smiling… face.

Naruto laughed. "Though it's very interesting too." His now dark eyes slid over the lowered fox ears on Sasuke now blond head, and noticed the torn ear. "What did you do?" He asked concerned suddenly and reached up to the ears. Sasuke actually flinched when Naruto touched the wound.

"It will heal," Sasuke muttered.

Naruto looked down onto his own face, blue eyes this time not meeting his. Then he smiled again. "I can see now why people want to touch them," he grinned, playing with the ears. Sasuke looked up. This time blue met black, and a blond eyebrow rose.

"You're not feeling alright?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke grumbled softly. That was the most stupid question one could ask in this situation.

"What is it?" Naruto asked.

"I'm still getting used to all the sounds," Sasuke said stiffly, hating to say it, but with Naruto here he had to admit it.

Naruto grinned, and moved up his pale hands and took the tips of the black ears, one between each pair of fingers.

Blue eyes annoyingly stared up at him, but Naruto didn't notice and gently lifted the ears up. "You'll get used to it," he whispered. They stood there like that for a moment, before Sasuke (unconsciously) moved the ears away from Naruto's fingers. "I kind of miss them…" Naruto said sadly.

"Hm." Sasuke looked up to Naruto. "You had… any problems?"

Naruto shrugged, lowering his arms. "Nah, not really. I mean, it needs some getting used to your body; you're so freakishly tall… I kind of like that," Naruto grinned, straightening up, and looking down upon Sasuke.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "I see…"

"I did trip a couple of times," Naruto said behind his hand. "More than I care to admit," he added softly.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "So, did you get her?"

Naruto moved back some. "Her?" he asked confused. The next second he understood Sasuke's words. "Oh, uhm… She…uh… died," he said slowly, sheepishly.

Sasuke's face fell. "What? But we're still-" He turned to the man standing next to Naruto, and suddenly their surroundings, and the people around them, were there once more. "Why? Why have we not switched back yet? Did you find out more about the jutsu?"

Maki bit his lip before he shook his head. It was amazing how Sasuke's personality had completely transferred into this body of someone who could almost impossibly look sour or even irritated. However, Sasuke had managed to do that in just 10 seconds.

"Uh… we didn't find out anything. The Kiri ANBU did not speak to us about her… and obviously didn't know much about the jutsu either. We will have to report this to the Hokage, she will be able to make contact with the Lightning country," Maki said.

Sasuke irritably stared at Maki for a second longer before he turned back to Naruto. He knew Maki was right. "Let's go then."

He turned away, but Naruto grabbed Sasuke's shoulder and turned him around. "No… The results of the exams, teme!"

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched, but miraculously he didn't react.

A couple of confused, wide-eyed, nervous faces had been looking up to the two ninjas all the time.

Ryomaru was nervously fiddling with his sweater, and Eri's mouth hung open wide. "You mean… he's really Sasuke-sama… and sensei is…" Kenji nodded. "Oh my… I hit Sasuke-sama…" Eri said in a high almost scared voice, clasping her hand over her mouth. "Oh no…"

Kenji nodded. "You did."

"I hit…" Eri buried her face in her hands. "No…"

Then Naruto, in Sasuke's body, turned to his team. "So tell me, how did your battle go?"

Eri, her head still buried in her hand, turned away from Naruto, her back to him.

Ryomaru and Kenji exchanged looks. "She… Her team lost," Kenji said.

"Oh," Naruto said. "Well, that doesn't say anything yet." He put his hand on Eri's shoulder, hoping she would turn around. "Besides, I'm proud of you all, no matter what."

Eri slowly turned around, lowered her hands, and looked up to her sensei in Sasuke's body. Then again the shame of hitting Sasuke came back full force now that she was actually looking at him (or more precisely his body), and she lowered her head before she hold up her hands in front of her face again.

"Was it that bad?" Naruto asked, looking over to Kenji and Ryomaru.

Ryomaru shrugged, nervously eyeing Kenji. "We uh… We didn't see it… Not the end anyway."

Naruto blinked. "Oh." Then realized that was around the time he and Sasuke had switched bodies.

Kenji kept eyeing Eri suspiciously.

"So what happened?" Naruto asked, taking Eri with him as he took a few steps away from the others. He lowered himself onto the floor and sat down casually.

Eri slowly lowered her hands, peeked down upon Sasuke's body, then turned to the real Sasuke (for the moment the real one) and bowed. "I'm sorry I hit you!"

Sasuke, not completely recovered from Naruto's touch or the news of the dead kunoichi, raised a brow. "Hn?"

Eri stared. Had he already forgotten?

Sasuke shrugged before he turned his body slightly away from the others and sat down too.

"You hit him?" Naruto almost giggled.

Eri sharply turned her head to Naruto, but her face became less angry when she noticed she had turned to Sasuke's body instead of her sensei's. "I thought you were joking! You always joke around!"

Naruto raised an eyebrow, laughed and said. "You didn't believe Sasuke when he said we had switched bodies? You only believed it when I said it?" He laughed some more, before he suddenly stopped. "Wait… Is that a good thing… or not?" he asked confused.

She had not believed Sasuke… because she thought it was him, and had started to believe 'him' when she thought Sasuke told her what had happened. Or had she at first thought Naruto was just a really good actor, and only when he had really showed up she had immediately recognized him?

The second option sounded nicer, but he was afraid it wasn't the right one.

This time Eri couldn't help it, and started laughing. "Sensei, you may be in the body of someone smart… you still are dumb."

"Hé!" Naruto said offended. On the other side of the room the soft snigger of Sasuke could be heard. "It's not funny, teme!" Sasuke obviously thought otherwise.

To make things worse for Naruto, Eri hit him. "This is why you should stop playing pranks on your own team!" She then sat down next to him.

Naruto grumbled softly, before turning to Eri. "So what happened in your fight?"

Eri suddenly turned bright red in a matter of nanoseconds. Naruto's thin black eyebrows rose. This was not the reaction he had expected.

Neither had Kenji or Ryomaru.

"I… we… the other team… we…" she mumbled, making no sense at all. "We just did!"

Naruto looked confused. "Did what?"

Eri turned if possible even redder, before she shook her head viciously. "Nothing!" She said apparently more loudly than she had intended.

Naruto raised his eyebrows some more, but thought better to let this rest for now. "Okay… I think," he said. "Let's go to the arena for the results then," he said to the room as he stood up again.

In the arena, the genin had queued up, and Sasuke and Naruto stood far above on a balcony looking down upon them.

"So what did you do?" Naruto asked softly, not taking his eyes of the nervously looking genin while the Mizukage held a short speech.

"Hm?" Sasuke asked, not looking up either. To an outsider it was like they weren't talking to each other at all.

"Your… _my_ ear," Naruto said.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and his hands, crossed on his chest, tightened a little. "I just taught some ninja a lesson."

Naruto turned his head down to look at Sasuke, who did not return the gesture. "What? You didn't do anything to my team-"

"Of course not," Sasuke said sounding a bit impatient. "I wouldn't…" He stopped and shook his head curtly once. "Those ninja who were not so friendly with you."

Naruto frowned, deep in thought. "You need to be a tad more specific."

Sasuke smirked at this. "You probably wouldn't remember them even if I told you anyway."

Naruto grabbed Sasuke's arm and shook him. "Tell me anyway."

Sasuke gave Naruto a look, which made him stop his actions and return to hanging on the railing. "Okay."

Sasuke waited for Naruto's breathing to slow somewhat, waiting a bit more just to tease Naruto, and opened his mouth just as the Mizukage held up a scroll with names. "Those jounin you apparently had a fight with before?"

Naruto frowned. "I don't remem-"

"Kenji and Ryomaru seem to think they saved you from those two idiots."

Suddenly Naruto's mouth formed an 'o'. "Ah, them." He then turned his head to Sasuke. "You didn't hurt them… too much, did you?"

Sasuke shrugged.

They fell silent as the Mizukage started calling names. "The composed team 1, consisting of Anno Ruki, Izayama Mei and Buki Eri lost their match. The jury did not think any of them worthy of becoming chuunin. Team 2-"

Naruto sighed and let his head hang. Sasuke did not make any sound from beside him. In the arena Naruto noticed Eri lowered her head too a little, Ryomaru glanced sideways toward her.

"Team 4, Umu Ryomaru, Miyamoto Dan and Remitsu Ayase won their match. The jury, however, made none a chuunin. Their lack of teamwork was cause of this. Team 5, losing their match, the jury rewarded their cooperation, making Ozu Baki, Ki-"

Naruto saw Ryomaru bow his head now, and Eri actually reached out to him, holding his hand.

"At least I already know the results about Kenji's team," Naruto said.

Sasuke glanced up at him, but could not make out Naruto's expression to be happy or sad.

"Team 7," the Mizukage said, after what seemed like an eternity. Naruto saw Kenji straighten up and Eri and Ryomaru hopefully look up to the beautiful red headed woman. "Won their match. Izzi Tado, Koki Ruku and Yamanaka Kenji have therefore been rewarded to be called chuunin, for showing-"

"Great leadership," Naruto finished. Sasuke saw his own face smile.

-x-

Back in the inn they celebrated Kenji's promotion. Eri and Ryomaru seemed very happy for Kenji, who uncharacteristically was a bit silent at first, but soon had found his arrogance again.

Boosting around, he said, "I always knew I couldn't have failed."

Eri glared at him, but she surprisingly did not hit him.

"C-congratulations," Ryomaru said to Kenji. Apparently he had not managed to produce a word until now.

Kenji grinned broadly at Ryomaru, who looked taken aback by it. Then Kenji, much to everyone's surprise, hugged Ryomaru. "Thanks, Ryo."

"Kenji!" Eri said astonished.

At that Kenji let go of Ryomaru as if a surge of electricity went through him. Granted, Ryomaru was unable to speak for the rest of the day.

Even as they walked on the road, going back to Konoha, the very next day, he had not uttered a single word yet. Eri had tried to soothe him, get him to talk, or even look at Kenji, but she had failed as to now. It wasn't really like her heart was into it either, for Kenji kept asking her about her battle, and she kept falling silent herself.

Naruto, Sasuke and Maki walked behind the kids, speaking every now and then, but mostly watching the kids.

"I always forget what it was like to be that young," Maki suddenly said as they saw Eri walking between her teammates, giving both glances, Ryomaru sad and pleading ones, hoping for him to talk to her, and Kenji angry ones, hoping for him to fall dead.

Naruto laughed an uncharacteristic deep laugh from Sasuke's mouth. Sasuke actually glanced up to Naruto at that, his eye twitching.

Finally Eri slapped Kenji in the face after he had once more asked her why she had lost her match. This, however, made lunch time an abnormal silent one.

Suddenly Naruto stood up and walked over to his team. He pulled Eri up, who looked bewildered as she was pulled by her sensei away from the others.

"Sensei?" she asked, now following him on her own accord.

Naruto led her behind some trees before he stopped and turned around. "Eri, I would like you…"

Eri looked up almost afraid. She knew what he was asking.

Naruto did not speak for a while. "Unless you really don't want to talk to me about it," he said softly.

Eri shook her head. "I do, I just…" She sighed and then leant against the tree. Slowly she slid down.

Naruto sat down beside her, waiting for her words.

"It's actually quite embarrassing, that's why I don't want the others to know," she finally said.

"Oh, I know all about embarrassment," Naruto grinned, which actually helped Eri continue her story.

"Okay, so Ruki, Mei and I were fighting. Mei was separated from us, and Ruki and I were cornered by two contestants, and then… Well, I thought I could take them on with my swords, but before I could step out, Ruki pulled me back."

Naruto nodded, not seeing anything embarrassing happening yet.

Eri fiddled with her belt, much like Ryomaru's nervous habit. "I tripped and we fell and we…"

Naruto waited for more, but when he turned his head to the side, to look at his student, he noticed the bright red cheeks. Her mouth was trying to say something but no words ever presented themselves.

"You… fell… and then… lost?" Naruto guessed.

"In short, yes," Eri nodded. She turned to Naruto shortly, only to look back to her feet immediately. "We kissed accidentally," she muttered. "I was surprised, and so was he, and then the other came, and they pinned up, and I couldn't get my swords, because they had fallen onto the ground and I was so embarrassed, and we couldn't get off each other because the other two held us there, and I didn't know what to do and then the match was over and I got out and away and I didn't know what to do, and, and…" Eri took a deep breath.

Naruto wasn't sure to laugh or let her be. He then decided laughing would hurt her feelings, so he decided to talk instead. "Ah, I know what that feels like."

Eri looked up quickly, her eyebrows raised. "Really?"

"Mhu… yeah." Naruto shrugged. "You'll get over it."

"Then what happened?" Eri asked, now curious.

"Oh, back at the academy, Sasuke and I accidentally kissed. It was the most horrible, revolting thing-" Naruto looked down upon Eri. "You must promises never to tell him that," he said honestly.

Eri then started laughing. "Haha, I never thought… haha."

Naruto laughed along with her. "Well, I kind of hated Sasuke back then."

Eri giggled at that. "What should I tell them?" She finally asked.

"Just say you tripped."

Eri was so surprised by that simple answer that she could not speak for quite a few minutes. "That seems quite a simple solution," she said softly.

Naruto grinned. "Good, then I will go talk to Ryomaru next. I don't like my team to be so apart."

However, before Naruto could stand up, Eri pulled at his bare arm. "Don't. Ryomaru is fine, I'll handle things."

Naruto smiled and then hugged her. "You're the best," he said. Eri returned the hug.

"Sensei," Eri then asked as they walked back to the others, who had packed and were waiting for the two.

"Hm?"

Eri did a double take, for a moment she thought she was walking next to Sasuke instead of Naruto. "You won't ever tell them the full truth, will you?"

"I swear," Naruto said.

Eri walked over to her teammates, gave Kenji a warning glare before pulling both boys by the hand onto their way. Both looked surprised.

Naruto smiled and followed them, soon Sasuke walking by his side.

-x-

Evening was falling as they walked into the slowly darkening forest. Naruto and Sasuke slowly trailed behind the others.

"First thing I'll do when we switch back is to rip it off you, and put my teeth into the soft, smooth-"

Naruto pushed Sasuke away playfully. "Stop it," he whispered.

"-flesh and lick every bit of," Sasuke continued as if he had never been interrupted, "tanned skin I can-"

Now Naruto clapped his hand over Sasuke's mouth, who to his own annoyance noticed how much stronger his own body was compared to Naruto's.

"Being switched has its advantages," Naruto noted. Sasuke struggled for a moment and then freed himself in a way which made Naruto look stunned.

They walked on in silence. Suddenly Naruto gasped loudly. Sasuke looked up, trying to figure out what was wrong.

"Oooh, I suddenly thought of something very, very exciting," Naruto said, rubbing his hands together.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "You're _not _going to make Sakura think I like her. It's my body-!"

"No, no… well, that _is_ a good idea. I should consider it," Naruto said thoughtfully.

Sasuke could slap himself in the face for suggesting such a thing.

"Maybe I should do it in front of Sai, that would be so funny," Naruto went on.

"What was the other exciting thought?" Sasuke asked loudly, making sure to drown out Naruto.

"Oh… well," Naruto started, but then they noticed the rest of the group had stopped.

"We've decided to rest here," Maki said, sitting down.

"I'll take first watch," Sasuke said as he sat down against a tree.

Everyone sat down, Kenji made a fire and Eri had already gone to sleep.

It wasn't until early in the morning, when everyone was fast asleep, that Naruto woke Sasuke up and pulled him into the forest. Maki, who was on watch, did not even raise so much as an eyebrow.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked as he walked beside Naruto. "Why are you up so early?"

"It must be your body… so strange…"

Sasuke seemed to think this over as they silently walked on. He realised they had not been alone since the switch had happened.

"I was wondering," Naruto said softly, but he never finished his sentence.

Sasuke looked up to his own face. "Wondering…" he then asked.

Naruto turned onto Sasuke, looking into his own blue eyes. He had never seen his own eyes like this, from Sasuke's perspective. They were still very clearly blue, even in the dim light of the first rays of sunlight. "Why did you never tell me how beautiful this all is?"

Sasuke frowned. "What is?" he asked confused.

Naruto shook his head. "Your eyes!" he said as if that explained everything.

"My eyes? You mean mine, or yours?" Sasuke pointed from Naruto to himself.

"Yours, I said so. You never once told me about the Sharingan." Sasuke finally understood what Naruto had been talking about. "Back when we had just switched… everything was… well, just beautiful. Colour everywhere, every living thing, every bit of chakra." Naruto held up his hands to his surroundings. "It made me really dizzy, but it was…" Naruto never finished, he could not think of a good word to describe the sight the Sharingan had showed him.

"Hm," Sasuke shrugged. "I never realised it would be so interesting to you."

Naruto then suddenly grabbed Sasuke's shoulders. "You don't even realise what wonderful vision you have? You keep saying how cold you are compared to me, but you never even once…"

Sasuke was stunned by Naruto's anger. He wasn't really angry but more astounded, but he seemed to accuse Sasuke of the fact of never telling him. Sasuke, however, had simply never thought of his Sharingan in such a way.

"Really?" he asked, considering it.

"Oh, don't play stupid now. It doesn't suit you."

Sasuke glared up at Naruto as he felt a hand slid into his hair. "What are you doing?" he asked, finding the usual familiar tickling sensation being different than he had expected.

Naruto stepped closer to Sasuke, looking down onto his own body. This was strange, but he found it very amusing and maybe even arousing now he knew it was not his. He lightly touched his own whiskered cheek, now belonging to Sasuke. His other hand moved over to the back of Sasuke's neck.

Sasuke shivered when he felt Naruto's touch on his face and neck. "Your body, it's so sensitive," Sasuke said, already feeling some stirring in the bottom of his stomach.

"Not true, Sasuke, you know that." Naruto smirked as he saw Sasuke shudder under his touch. "Not like this."

Sasuke couldn't even respond in words, only gasp.

"It might be my body, but I think you're the one who's sensitive, Sasuke. You're just used to be able to control it quite well, but now that you're in my body… you can't." The smirk that befitted his face grew wider. Slowly he leaned over his own body, and moved his hands to Sasuke's waist and started kissing Sasuke on the cheeks instead.

"Gah…" Sasuke muttered. "I hate you…" he said weakly.

"You want to be in control, don't you?" Naruto purred. "Let's see what happens to you when you have no control."

And then soft purring erupted from Sasuke's throat. Apparently he was startled by it himself, because he flinched before turning to look up into his own dark eyes, and he felt himself blush.

"Oh, Sasuke, you should really, really try looking like that in your own body one time," Naruto said, before he continued placing light kisses on Sasuke's now whiskered cheeks.

Sasuke wanted to push Naruto away and take over control, but all he could do was grip the black top while he felt Naruto's fingers tickle his sides as he lifted his orange shirt.

Naruto pulled it off over Sasuke's head and threw it aside, pinning Sasuke against a tree. Sasuke's taller body made sure Sasuke couldn't escape.

"Please… Naruto…" Sasuke moaned as he felt a tongue in his ear while a hand started to play with one of his fox ears. Next Naruto moved his other hand to Sasuke's chest, feeling it up and down. He could feel Sasuke's… his own heart… beat. It was strange, but Naruto didn't care that he was actually doing all of this to his own body, for what mattered was what was inside of it.

However, Sasuke did have some trouble accepting the situation. He hadn't accepted all of this as easily as Naruto. He felt his own lips on this 'new' skin, he felt his own hand touch 'this' chest, and the reaction… he was unable to even move!

"Naruto… this is so strange," he muttered. Why was he still shivering from pleasure?

Naruto grinned. "Maybe, but isn't it exciting too?" He let go of the fox ear and in one smooth movement moved his hand into Sasuke's pants.

Sasuke gasped, wanting to bend over, but Naruto stopped him from doing so. Instead he grasped the shirt tighter and let his head rest against… 'his own' chest… No… it was Naruto's now.

"You say I'm sensitive, but I can already feel your body… responding. Now I see why you like doing this to me." Naruto grinned, as he looked down upon Sasuke.

Sasuke narrowed his blue eyes. "Hn." He slowly moved his hand up under Naruto's black shirt. He still wasn't comfortable, but he couldn't let Naruto have all the fun.

His body jerked when he felt Naruto's hand around his growing and confined erection. "Damn," he muttered softly. It felt so good, he wasn't able to move, just let this happen to him, but he really wanted… wanted to do something too. His body was struggling with his mind.

Naruto's lips let his neck go and moved away from him. He suddenly was free to move, and so he wanted to take his chance now. However, he couldn't recover in time; before he knew it Naruto had pulled down his pants and was kneeling in front of him.

"Naruto!" Sasuke warned, but it was too late. His head moved back until it met the tree behind him, and he moaned as Naruto's mouth touched his aroused penis.

Hands had placed themselves on his hips and a tongue was teasing his tender erection. His hands searched for something to hold and found Naruto's head. They gripped into black hair. He felt the purring in his chest hitch. Unbelievable how great this felt.

For a moment Naruto moved back and looked up to see Sasuke leaning against the tree, breathing heavily. He smirked. "Like it?" Naruto pointed to the seal forming on Sasuke's stomach.

Sasuke looked down and kicked Naruto hard against his upper leg. "Don't… stop now."

Naruto rubbed the sore spot on his leg before continuing his ministrations…

"Gah," Sasuke moved his head back again, a bit to fast and hit his head against the tree, but he didn't care.

Naruto moved his mouth to Sasuke's erection and moved his tongue from the base of his penis to the head, where he circled it a couple of times.

Sasuke couldn't stand Naruto's sensitiveness. When he did this to Naruto, it all seemed so different. Was Naruto really always this easily aroused? It was so different the other way around, and it seemed at this moment Sasuke lacked the clarity to think properly too. He felt Naruto move his tongue over his aroused penis and knew he couldn't take this much longer. He felt his legs getting weak. He hoped he could at least keep standing until Naruto finished this.

He could.

He felt the pleasant feeling that had been building up inside his stomach burst free and it made his body tense up with pleasure.

When he had finally caught his breath and dared to open his eyes, he saw Naruto towering above him, standing next to him and studying his face.

"Interesting," Naruto said, smirking.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, looking up to his own face. "What… what do you think you're doing?"

"Looking at your reaction and… finding out what it does to… this body of yours."

"And?" Sasuke asked, grabbing hold of Naruto's black shirt, pulling him closer.

"It's interesting," Naruto said.

"What is?" Sasuke asked, getting closer, finding it annoying he had to stand on his toes to reach up.

"I'm very certain I would have been panicking about doing all of this… in the middle of a forest… with my team just a little further away. But I must say… I don't feel worried at all. Now I understand a bit better why you always…anywhere… why you never mind…"

Sasuke stopped when their noses were about a centimetre away, and he looked up to Naruto. "I told you, you worry too much." He finally began feeling more like himself again. He moved his hand to Naruto's pants and laid it on his crotch. "Now it's my tur-"

"Hahaha," Naruto laughed. Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "You thought I was finished? No, Sasuke, I'm in your body now. This time I'm in control."

Did Sasuke's face fall?

Naruto put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder, and pulled his whole body to the ground. As they kneeled, Sasuke looked up. "What are you doing?"

Naruto was kneeling down behind him. "You'll like it, I promise."

Sasuke wasn't sure if he should object, but when he saw Naruto pull down his own pants, he saw his face too.

Sasuke turned his head back and the corners of his mouth curled up ever so slightly. Naruto wanted to do this, and he could tell he was in good hands. This time, he would let Naruto do as he pleased. This time…

"You know, this could be interesting," Naruto suddenly said.

Sasuke looked around. "Why?"

"I know my own body better then anyone… even better than you…"

Sasuke turned his head back. "I see." Then he grinned. "Indeed this could be interesting."

Naruto smiled and placed himself behind Sasuke.

-x-

Naruto, smirking, straightened Sasuke's beloved katana on his belt as he stepped into the clearing, out of the bushes. There he found Maki keeping watch, silently humming a song to himself, while Naruto's team was still asleep around a now dead campfire.

He was followed by Sasuke, who looked content. They both walked over to Maki and sat down.

"I'll keep watch next," Naruto said.

Maki turned his head to Naruto, nodded and closed his eyes.

-x-

Tsunade looked up to the two ANBU in front of her desk. She studied the two different masks; the green abstract lines on the left one, and the swirling purple ones on the mask to the left.

"What happened," she asked to the company who was with too few.

Rabbit stirred, not sure what to say, before he finally spoke when Eagle didn't.

"We met up with the team of ANBU from Kiri. They lead us to the place where the kunoichi was supposed to be." He stopped.

"Continue." Tsunade looked from Rabbit to Eagle. "Taka?"

"Oh, yes, of course," Taka said, making Tsunade frown ever so slightly. "Well, I think we lost Crow because he died fighting the kunoichi, and-"

"You think?" Tsunade asked sternly.

"I mean… I know he died," he corrected himself.

Tsunade blinked. "Taka… are you feeling well?" She turned her eyes to Rabbit for a moment.

"Oh yes, very much so, Hokage-sama. Never felt more delighted in my life."

This made Tsunade raise her eyebrows. "What?"

"Well, except for that one time in the forest… or maybe three times… and in the garden… and in the kitchen…" he sniggered, "or on your desk…"

Tsunade looked down at her desk for a mere second before she stood up. "Uchiha! I'm warning you!"

Then to annoy her ever further, the Uchiha started to laugh very loudly. Getting more confused by the second, Tsunade stepped from beside her desk. At the same time Rabbit started to shiver ever so slightly. It was as if he was making himself ready to get out of the office at any second now.

"The look on your face…" Taka laughed, pointing at Tsunade as he tried to gasp for air between his laughs.

Tsunade was now right in front of Taka, studying him still. His deep voice was charming, even as he laughed his ass off.

"Baa-chan."

Tsunade's nostrils flared at this. "Naruto!"

Naruto straightened up, still sniggering, and took off his mask. "Tsunade," he said, black eyes staring way down into light brown.

Tsunade narrowed her eyes. "Where's Sasuke?"

Naruto held up his hands. "In a way, he is right here as you can see."

"Change back. Now tell me, why are you here and not Uchiha?"

"Baa-chan, please, I was just joking, no need to be so-" Sasuke's voice said.

"Change back!" she ordered.

It was silent for a moment. "There is nothing to change back into."

"Naruto," Tsunade said warningly.

Right then the door opened and Sasuke came walking in, but to Tsunade it was Naruto.

She narrowed her eyes once more. Was this a double prank?

She looked from Sasuke to Naruto, not knowing who was who.

"You had your fun, Naruto," Naruto said, or so the one looking like Naruto did. "Now tell her what happened."

Tsunade, even more confused, said nothing.

Naruto couldn't help himself and started laughing again, clutching his sides.

Sasuke walked forward, next to Naruto and started explaining to Tsunade, who looked from a laughing Sasuke, to a dead serious Naruto.

"And that made us switch bodies," Sasuke explained.

"You should have seen your face," Naruto hiccoughed.

"Then this is really serious." Tsunade looked to the laughing man. "Uchiha, I mean Uzumaki," she shook her head. "Go!"

Having made Naruto fall into a laughing fit once more because of her mistake, Naruto left the office. "Kakashi's next," he said.

Sasuke did not seem to approve of Naruto's actions either by the look on his face, but he did not follow Naruto since he had not been excused yet.

Tsunade and Sasuke seemed to have a staring contest.

"Really Sasuke, you should laugh more, my sides really hurt," Sasuke's voice echoed from the hallway followed by giggles and snorting.

Tsunade broke first as a tiny smile appeared on her face. "I must admit this was a bit funny," she said before turning back to her desk. "You _should_ laugh more Uchiha, you have a nice laugh."

Naruto's face frowned. Sasuke had not meant to, but his emotions seemed to be expressed a bit too easy in Naruto's body.

Tsunade sat down. "So, what is it like?"

Sasuke raised his eyebrows in surprise. "What?" he asked bewildered. She really had just asked him what it was like to switch bodies?

Tsunade nodded. "I can see that you try to be yourself, but as with Naruto, a bit of the body itself holds you down. Habits die hard, especially to a body."

Sasuke took this as Tsunade trying to tease him and did not answer. He just stared down at her. "Do you know how we can change back?" he asked.

Tsunade did not immediately answer. Sasuke wasn't sure, but he had the feeling she was observing him before she gave her answer. What was she looking for?

"No," she said slowly. She did not sound worried at all, but not pleased either.

"But," Sasuke encouraged her, really hoping there was a 'but' coming.

"Maybe the Yamanaka clan can help us, and I will get in contact with the Raikage."

Sasuke was not really satisfied, but tried not to show this.

"I know you would like to get back into your own body as quick as possible," Tsunade said, apparently his face had betrayed him once more, "but try to make the best of it for now." She waved her hand to say he could go find Naruto, and then she turned to Rabbit, who was still standing stiff as if to try to get invisible.

Sasuke left the room and heard his own voice coming from down the stairs. As he neared Naruto, and was able to hear what he was saying, he became angrier. Not just what he was saying… but also to whom…

"Yeah, I really like that shampoo. When I move my fingers through my hair it feels like moving through water, so smooth. Here, try."

"Oh my," the receptionist giggled.

"Am I right?" Naruto said.

Sasuke actually gritted his teeth as the two came into view. Naruto was bending over slightly to let the brunette feel his hair. Naruto was casually leaning against the wall.

"I can-" Naruto said as he straightened up, finding the woman blushing at him, but before he could say what he could, Sasuke yelled loudly, Naruto's voice echoing through the hall deafeningly in an angry voice he rarely used, and using a word he said even less.

"NARUTOOOOOOOO!"

"Uh oh," Naruto said. "Well, have to go baby, see ya." He winked at her before he rapidly turned around and quickly took off, followed by an orange cloud of fury, who bestowed a most evil and raging look into the woman's direction that she actually almost fainted. White faced she backed away from the passing fury of glowing orange chakra.

"I'm going to kill you!" Sasuke yelled at Naruto.

Sasuke caught up with Naruto one street away, and pinned him ungracefully onto the hard stone ground.

"Please, Sasuke, I was just joking, I couldn't resist- please put your hand away, there's no need to- Sasuke?" Naruto sounded more and more frightened.

"It's _my _body! Don't go flirting around; I already have a hard time keeping people away as it is. _Don't _go encouraging them!" Sasuke threatened, exceeding very well. He moved his face closely to Naruto's, growling as he stared onto his own pale face.

"Okay, okay, I'm real, _really_ sorry Sasuke, really!" Naruto tried to pout, but the face of the mostly emotionless Sasuke did not cooperate, so it looked more like a grimace.

Sasuke slowly sat up, still straddling Naruto, making sure he had made his point. Naruto swallowed as he looked up at Sasuke, waiting for him to get off him.

"Oh my, Naruto, going Kyuubi on Sasuke? Did he ask you to? I bet it arouses him."

Sasuke looked up to find Kakashi slowly strolling toward the two, his nose in his beloved book. "I didn't know you two liked role playing."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "You are a real-" and to both Naruto's and Kakashi's amazement, Sasuke let out a tirade of swearwords which made both men look slightly paler than usual.

Then Sasuke stood up and walked off, growling and snarling at people.

"Wow, Sasuke, what did you do? You know you shouldn't set women off at that time of the month." To his surprise, Sasuke slowly got up and looked… was he… startled with a hint of annoyance?

"I never… heard him say such things before," he said softly, "never."

Kakashi frowned. "Sasuke?"

The raven turned his head to Kakashi, who was getting worried there was more to this fight than he knew. "Just go talk to him, you know Naruto can be… well, not like this, but… he will be fine, just go have some sex, I know that will make him forget everything. He forgets so easily. I bet giving him ramen would already do the trick."

Naruto nodded until he realised Kakashi was talking about him. "Hé," he said insulted.

Kakashi shrugged, "You can act hurt, but I hear you say it all the time, don't blame me for what just happened." Kakashi held up his hand and book before he turned away and walked off.

Frowning, Naruto set to follow Sasuke. He had looked quite scary, and Naruto knew it was him being in his body that had made Sasuke rampage. He had lost the control over his emotions, and now he blurted things out he would normally have never said. Apparently Sasuke was much more complex than Naruto thought. He had always known there was more to Sasuke than what most people saw, but he had only ever really known the good inside Sasuke. Sasuke usually was never like this toward him.

Suddenly Naruto fully realised what had happened to them. They had switched bodies. There was no undoing a henge. They were trapped inside each other's bodies. Not just looking different, feeling different, seeing things differently, interpreting things differently, but above all, reacting differently.

Usual input A caused reaction B in Sasuke, now with Naruto's influence it did not even cause reaction C, but D. Their souls felt one thing but their bodies another, and those two together collided and caused a reaction they themselves might not even anticipate for it was unknown to them.

When Naruto had seen the receptionist look at him, he had not really known how to react. So he had decided to make Sasuke look like a person he was absolutely not.

Naruto would never admit it, but he had always been jealous of Sasuke. Sasuke always ignored the many stares he got just walking down the street. He did not seem to care what people thought of him, swooning and adoring the last Uchiha survivor. Naruto had always felt a knot in his heart when he noticed this. First because he wanted those stares to be directed at him too, later in life… because they were directed at _his_ Sasuke. However, Naruto never was the jealous type, so he did not say anything, though it bothered him way more than he had ever let Sasuke know.

And, as Naruto walked down the streets, following a trail of whispers, knowing Sasuke had passed this way, he also realised what had upset Sasuke so much. Sasuke had never liked the attention he had gotten. Not because he thought he was better than those people, or because he hated women (as Naruto had though on more occasion than one) but because those people admired him. Admired him because he was 'cool'… because his family had died. Admiring him, because he had betrayed the village. Admiring him, because he was the flawed person he was. He did not see he was perfect to them, dark, handsome and distant, making him more desirable than another man.

Sasuke had never wished to be admired, especially not in this way. Naruto knew Sasuke missed his family more than anything in the world, and all those people on the streets thinking they looked

admirably at him, were actually pitying him. Poor boy lost his family. It must have stung, hurt really badly, having those people remind him of his lost relatives every day.

Naruto's thoughts suddenly made him very sad, as if his body knew the feeling and provided it to him.

Finally Naruto caught up with Sasuke, and realised they were at the end of the street to their home. There Sasuke stood still, staring out over the street.

Naruto just went to stand next to him and said nothing. They actually stood there for quite a while without talking. Sasuke just slid his hand into Naruto's.

"I thought Akira might be at home," he finally said.

"Ah, yeah."

It became quiet again.

"I'm sorry," Naruto said.

"Hm."

"It's just… I wouldn't be me if I didn't try to make this switching thing fun."

Naruto noticed the corners of Sasuke's mouth twitch as he glanced down.

Then Sasuke let go of Naruto's hand and walked to their home. There, Akira was running around the house, but he stopped when he saw his family. Sasuke stopped once more, and Naruto looked down to Sasuke, slightly concerned. Then he pushed Sasuke aside a little. "Let me handle this," he said, noticing the alarmed Sasuke.

"What?" Sasuke asked, but Naruto had already started walking to Akira as the small boy came running to him.

"Tou-chan!"

"My dear, sweet son. I've missed you more than anything in the world!" Naruto said, holding his arms open to embrace Akira while he hunched down.

Sasuke's eyes widened.

At once Akira stopped running to Naruto and looked very confused. "What?" he asked in his small childish voice.

Naruto raised his eyebrows a bit. "Your tou-san can't miss you?" he said surprised.

Akira looked beside 'Sasuke' to 'Naruto.' "What happened?" he asked the blond.

Sasuke actually shrugged, still not believing Naruto had done this.

"Tou-chan?" Akira then asked.

Naruto's mouth fell open. "No way!" he said, turning to look at Sasuke. "He can't be _this_ smart?"

Apparently these words confirmed Akira's question as he then ran to Sasuke. "I missed you! What happened? Why are you Naruto? Are you okay? Will you ever be tou-chan again?"

"Don't worry," Sasuke shushed Akira, holding him up, "of course we will switch back. I wouldn't want you to have to look at Naruto like your father your whole life."

Naruto frowned and stood up. "What does _that_ mean?"

Sasuke smirked at Naruto, and without a word to him he walked passed him into their house. "So, Akira, tell me what you've done and then so will I."

"Really?" Akira asked surprised, but sounded very happy nonetheless.

"Really."

Naruto frowned some more and muttered darkly before following the two. Somehow, he just wasn't a good Sasuke.

-x-

Naruto looked down at the tomato plant. "You didn't take care of it?"

"I did," Sasuke answered shortly, crossing his arms.

Naruto looked down upon his own body. "You… talked to it?" he asked happily. To Naruto's joy, Sasuke's cheeks turned red. He turned his head away and 'hn'ed.

"You're the best, Sasuke." Naruto hunched down in front of the plant. "But it still surprises me that the tomato-eater of our house didn't see that he had to remove these branches." Naruto pointed to some new leaves between two existing branches, showing the frowning Sasuke. He started getting them out.

Sasuke watched Naruto work, secretly smiling behind his back.

"You can eat tomato tonight," Naruto smiled.

"I'll try…" Sasuke said almost sadly.

Naruto looked up. "Try?"

"This is your body, remember. I really hope you can eat more than just ramen."

Naruto stared up to Sasuke. "I can," he said softly muttering. He turned back to the plant, and shuddered. "What horror would make someone eat just vegetables?"

"Trying to live a healthy life?" Sasuke offered.

Naruto huffed. "Pfffft, ha."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, then shook his head. "No, no, no," he muttered.

Naruto looked up surprised. "Hm? What's wrong?"

Sasuke was still shaking his head, then stopped suddenly. "Ew," was all he said.

This made Naruto even more curious. "Nani, nani? Tell me?" he asked as he stood up.

"I just…" Sasuke said softly, blushing ever so slightly, which made Naruto's stomach flutter for some reason.

"Whaaat?" Naruto asked, shuffling closer to Sasuke.

"For a moment I just really wanted to…"

Naruto raised Sasuke's dark eyebrows. "To…?"

Sasuke shook his head, blond hair shaking wildly. "Nothing." He turned away from Naruto and strode off, but before he could get away, Naruto grabbed the stiffly hanging tail.

"No, no, tell me."

Sasuke turned around. "Let go of… of…"

"Your _tail_?" Naruto finished.

Sasuke grunted, turning his head away again.

"Sasuke?" Naruto suddenly asked in a normal tone.

Sasuke turned his head to Naruto once more. He was still wearing Sasuke's ANBU gear, except for the katana. "Yes?" he asked almost apprehensively.

"Well, I was wondering…"

Naruto did not continue and for the first time since they had switched bodies, Sasuke could not read Naruto's face and noticed he wasn't used to this. He did not say anything either. He just waited.

"Just now… I felt…" Naruto said in an eerily close imitation of how Sasuke could have said this, slow and thoughtful. "Happy."

Sasuke blinked, not understanding why this made Naruto so confused. "Don't you feel happy all the time?" he blurted out. Cursed body, betraying him.

"Ah, and I thought you never noticed," Naruto said sarcastically. "No, I mean… I felt that your body was happy."

They stared at each other. "So?" Sasuke asked. "It can't?"

"It was right when I touched my- I mean your tail." He stroked his thumb over the soft red fur.

Sasuke looked down at it. He was afraid he knew what was going on, but he did not feel like sharing this with Naruto.

"You like touching my tail?" Naruto asked, looking at Sasuke.

Sasuke's mouth twitched for a second, or had Naruto imagined that? Because Sasuke didn't utter a single word.

"You wanted ramen, didn't you?" Naruto said, realising what had been going on.

"Hm," Sasuke said, pulling the fluffy tail out of Naruto's hand. Still holding the tail in his own hand he walked off toward the house. "I'm going to take a shower." He disappeared into the kitchen.

Naruto wanted to grin, but somehow he knew he was actually showing a smirk on his face instead of a broad grin, like he had intended.

"I really hope we won't become each other," Naruto mumbled. He peered down at the tomato plant and felt a longing to eat the red juicy fruit. After staring at it for a couple of minutes, he sighed. "Ah, what the hell, why not." He groped for the fruit and picked it. Before second guessing himself he took a bite, the juice sipping down his chin as his teeth sunk into the rich, ripe fruit.

"Aaah, this sucks…" he said after he had swallowed the bite. "It really tastes good." He turned around and went inside too, whilst eating the rest of the tomato.

-oXo-

A/N: I finally decided that I'd split the last chapter up after all… apparently I still want to write more than I had intended :P


	41. Chapter 41: The last laugh Part II

I did my best and made a really, really, _really_ long chapters (5x longer than usual!) to make up a little for the very, very long waiting… I'm sorry!

Hope you enjoy it.

-oXo-

**Chapter 41: The last laugh Part II **

_26__th__ of March_

Sakura blinked. "Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke looked down at the pink haired woman he stood beside. Her eyes had a fierce strong look. They were not angry, but certain… confident. "Sakura," he said in a smooth deep voice; greeting her.

Sakura waited until the dark eyes met her own green ones. Their arms touched as they were pushed against each other in the busy market place. "You already back from your mission?" she asked sounding somewhat surprised.

"Hm," Sasuke replied. His hand hovered over an old lady that was pushed against his right side, and he pointed to some tomatoes in the vegetable stand.

Sakura watched him until he had paid for the fruit, and his attention was back to her. "Heard anything from Naruto? He should be back soon, right?"

"He is," Sasuke said curtly.

Sakura looked up to Sasuke, her eyebrows together in a slight frown. "Well?" she asked impatiently.

Sasuke looked down at her, a small paper bag filled with red tomatoes clutched to his chest. His eyebrows rose for a slight second in something that seemed like confusion. "What?" he asked.

Sakura noticed how he tried to pry a young woman away from his side while they tried to walk forward, and thus she decided he had not heard her. She instead gripped the woman by the arm and pulled her (roughly) away from the raven.

Sasuke eyed her from the side, but did not comment on her behaviour. Instead he took a deep breath and waltzed through the crowd. Content that this had so much effect, since people quickly moved aside for his impressive figure, he showed a shadow of a grin on his face. Sakura, however, did not see this as she quickly followed in his wake, and had only a view of his back. It gave her a safe feeling.

"What were you doing here?" She suddenly heard his deep voice ask. He did not look around at her, but kept walking on. For a moment Sakura wondered if he was trying small talk.

"I came to get some ink and brushes for Sai," she answered.

Sasuke glanced over his shoulder. "Then what were you doing on that side of the market?" he asked after his eyes were back to look in front. "The stand is over there." He pointed to their left, apparently to some stands, because Sakura could not actually see any stands at all at the moment while they moved through the crowd.

"Well, I was on my way there, but I had no idea it would be this busy today. I wonder why."

Sasuke did not answer or guess, instead he suddenly stepped to the left, and Sakura would have lost him right then and there if it had not been for her ninja training. She quickly closed the gap that had grown between the two before anyone else could fill it. Finally Sasuke stopped, and she shuffled around him. She looked down at the stand filled with paper, ink, scrolls, pencils and other drawing utilities. While she stood in front of Sasuke, picking some good brushes, paper and ink, Sasuke looked around almost bored.

"So, what happened to Naruto's team? When did they get back?" Sakura asked while holding an unfolded scroll up to the light.

Sasuke looked down at her. "Oh, just this morning," he said and then paused.

It was a really long pause. Sakura actually started to think he would not speak again, so she asked again. "Well?" she pressed on, putting the scroll aside and picking up another one.

"Hm?" he asked, frowning.

Sakura frowned too. "Well, what happened? Did they pass the exams or not?" she asked pressingly. When Sasuke took a second too long to open his mouth she added, "the team! Honestly Sasuke-kun, what's wrong with you today?" She started to get agitated.

"Oh, they did fine I believe."

Sakura could hit him if she had more space to do so. Instead she asked the man behind the stand to get her the stuff she wanted a tad more harshly than she had intended. She gave the man who was bumping into her side an angry look, and he quickly cowered away.

"You _did_ ask him how his team performed in the chuunin exams, right?" she asked, trying to suppress her annoyance, and instead tried to give the man in front of her a kind smile, while he handed her a bag and she him the money.

"'course," Sasuke said, "but I was slightly more interested in other things at the time," he smirked. Sakura narrowed her eyes, but said nothing. "We haven't seen each other for such a long time," he added as he started to make a new path through the crowd for them to pass.

"I know, Sasuke-kun, I know you missed him deeply-" Sasuke uncharacteristically giggled at this, "What?"

"Deeply," Sasuke snorted softly.

Sakura blinked and stared at Sasuke's back for a second before suddenly laughing along softly. She smacked him on the back. "I didn't mean it like that." Sasuke stumbled when her hand hit him, but beside that he didn't react.

Finally they landed in a side street, and left the crowd behind. Sakura stepped up beside Sasuke and watched how he ate a tomato. "Did you… ask him already?" she then asked softly.

Sasuke's eyebrows came together ever so slightly, and he looked down at Sakura's serious face. "Huh?"

Sakura then smiled gently at him, as if she had expected him to react like this. "I told you he will like it. You should just ask him."

"Him… what?" Sasuke asked confused. Sakura laid her hand on his lower arm, seeing his shoulder was too high. They stopped walking, and Sasuke looked down at the hand. "I…"

"I know it's not easy for you, but I'm sure you'll make Naruto very happy if you do," Sakura said with a gentle smile on her face. Her eyes almost seemed to sparkle. Sasuke did not answer; instead he looked a little taken aback. "Just do as we talked about," Sakura said, smiling.

When Sasuke noticed Sakura had let go of his arm, and was looking through the bag in her arms, he slowly nodded. "O…kay…" he said softly, still confused.

Sakura started walking again, and Sasuke followed her. "Do you have time tomorrow for some training together? I think I got the hang of that new genjutsu counter you taught me."

Sasuke looked to his other side. "Maybe not tomorrow," he replied.

Sakura nodded. "Okay." Suddenly she stopped him, again by a touch on his arm. He looked down at her. "Is everything alright? You're less talkative than usual," she asked worriedly.

Sasuke frowned. "Less?"

Sakura sniggered. "Yes, even less." Sasuke shrugged. "Did something happen between you and Naruto?" she asked tilting her head.

"No," Sasuke answered, though Sakura did not look convinced. Of course his answer hadn't sounded very convincing in the first place.

Her eyes narrowed. "You know you can tell me."

"Nothing bad happened, really," the raven said truthfully. Then the corners of his mouth formed a smirk.

Sakura seemed satisfied. "Fine, you keep it to yourself. I can fill in the blanks." She started walking again.

Sasuke waited a moment before he followed her. At the end of the street Sakura once again turned to Sasuke. "See you tonight at training."

"Hm," Sasuke nodded curtly.

The raven watched Sakura round a corner, and got another tomato from the brown paper bag in his arms.

"That was interesting. I wonder what they usually talk about when they are together." He took a bite from the red fruit.

Naruto grinned widely as he thought how he had managed to make Sakura think he was Sasuke.

_She acts more differently around Sasuke than I thought_, Naruto thought as he walked home. "I wonder what Sasuke is supposed to ask me." He looked up to the buildings to both his sides.

-x-

_Sasuke stared at Naruto, who was almost the same height he was, and waited for the blond to speak. The raven was annoyed, and wanted to go home. He had just done another stupid D-rank mission along with Sakura and Naruto, and hoped he would soon be allowed to do more than these simple and mostly boring jobs. It had almost been a year since he had started doing the missions._

_Not that he would ever complain; he knew it was a part of his punishment, and he had to admit that with Naruto joining him -and maybe even Sakura and Kakashi- it made the punishment more bearable._

"_So? Why are we standing here?" he finally asked the uncharacteristically silent Naruto. He looked up to the oak tree they stood under. It was filled with tiny acorns. Behind it was a small bakery surrounded by dwellings. There was a small open place behind him, like a tiny square. He saw a droplet of water fall on the stones at his feet._

"_Well," Naruto muttered softly. "I just thought…" He looked away from Sasuke._

_It had only been three weeks since they had gone on their 'first date' to the Hokage monument. Naruto was still not very used to the idea of them liking each other, which made him react in very cute ways, like making him blush red more than necessary (in Sasuke's opinion). Not that he cared, because he liked Naruto acting in this way._

"_Thought?" Sasuke asked. A couple of rain droplets made soft ticking sounds on the leaves of the oak tree._

_To his surprise Naruto, with puffed cheeks, turned to look at him. "I don't want to go home yet," he said almost childishly, folding his arms._

_This unsettled Sasuke a little. "Eh?" _

_Naruto shook his head. "Today's missions were over so quick. I don't have any missions of my own… baa-chan must have forgotten about me… And I don't know what to do now."_

_Thinking it was not unusual for Naruto to be bored and whiney over something like this, Sasuke leant against the tree to listen to Naruto's rambling. This could take a while._

_It started to rain harder, and Naruto got closer to the trunk as well, leaning against it beside Sasuke._

"_You mind standing here for a bit?" Naruto asked._

_Surprised by the lack of words, Sasuke glanced to Naruto. "Hm," he shrugged._

_Naruto smiled. _

_They watched the small square as the stones got a dark colour, and people quickly moved away to get some shelter from the spring rain._

"_I think Sakura-chan doesn't really like me," Naruto suddenly said._

"_You only noticed now?" Sasuke joked._

_Naruto glared at Sasuke. "I mean… since… you know…" His whiskered cheeks soon rivalled the Kyuubi's fur in colour. He turned his head away._

"_Since… I kissed you?" Sasuke finished Naruto's sentence. His heart skipped a beat at the memory.*_

_Naruto did not answer, and was so silent that Sasuke started to wonder if he had gone deaf. "She's just… you know… being a girl."_

_Naruto turned his head back to Sasuke. "A girl?" he asked, and it almost sounded like he had never realised that she was._

"_Yeah, they get all…" Sasuke waved his hand, "you know when…" He glanced at Naruto curtly before mumbling '_it's Sakura'_ and turning his head away._

_Naruto was obviously amused by Sasuke's behaviour, and seemed to have forgotten his own problems rather rapidly. He watched the bluish black spikes, the cloth of the blue headband, and the round shape of Sasuke's ear. He had a tiny birthmark there, Naruto noticed. He was wearing his white long sleeved shirt, the dark pants and the blue cloth twisted around his waist, held together by a purple rope._

_Suddenly Sasuke felt a finger prick in his side. "Na, Sasuke, why are you still wearing those clothes?"_

_Sasuke looked into Naruto's blue eyes. "Why are you still wearing those orange pants?"_

_Naruto pouted, his eyes narrowed in annoyance, and turned to look at the square. "I like orange," he muttered._

_They listened to the sound of the rain falling, watching some people hiding under their umbrella as they went to the small bakery._

_Suddenly Sasuke felt a soft touch against his hand. He looked down without moving his head, making it look like he had not noticed the touch. He felt Naruto's fingers brush against the side of his hand again._

_Now he saw from the corners of his eyes how a soft red tint spread over Naruto's cheeks, making Sasuke smile ever so slightly. Still staring at the square he calmly waited for Naruto to finally complete his failing attempts. Fist he felt two fingers move between his loose fingers, carefully followed by more. He opened his hand ever so slightly, and welcomed Naruto's warm hand into his own._

_Neither looked at the other; neither spoke. They just stood there, holding hands, while the rain kept falling._

Sasuke opened his eyes and smiled at the happy memory. He sat up and looked around. When he noticed the alarm clock, his eyes widened. "Eleven o'clock?!" He fisted the blanket in his hands. "What a waste of time."

He pushed the blanket aside and got dressed. Naruto's body sure liked to sleep in. He should try to get that over with tomorrow. An annoying feeling came from somewhere underneath him, and he looked down the blankets. This feeling was unusual to him, and he soon realised why. He had been lying on the red furry tail. Removing the tingling tail, hoping the numb feeling would lift soon, he got out of the bed, which seemed a bit higher than he was used to. He had to stretch further to get his feet to the floor.

He headed to the bathroom, and once he had finished his business and had gotten dressed, he stared into the mirror at Naruto's face. It was something he probably could never get used to. He didn't like looking at Naruto in the mirror. He wanted to look down at Naruto through his own dark eyes. It just wasn't right. He picked up a comb and carefully brushed the yellow spikes between the fluffy black ears.

When he got downstairs he found his son sitting on the couch enthusiastically watching television. "Morning," he said to the boy.

"Morning tou-chan," Akira smiled back. "Naruto went to the market," he informed his father, following the now blond with his eyes.

"Hn."

In the kitchen Sasuke rumbled through some cupboards, unable to decide what he wanted to eat. Every time he thought he knew what he wanted, Naruto's body rejected the idea. So eventually he settled on some plain cereal, and headed back to the living room. There he sat down on the couch beside Akira, who was now playing with his little bat friend.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed ever so slightly as he looked how the bat was tenderly biting on Akira's finger. The bat eyed him for a moment before giving him the familiar rejecting look, though it faltered rather quickly. Sasuke possessed now Naruto's tasty chakra, and Kou knew that.

"Will you bring me to school tomorrow?" Akira asked.

"Of course," Sasuke smiled. He felt how he had unconsciously started to curl and uncurl the fluffy red tail, and stopped.

Akira looked up with his teal eyes, and put his hands in his lap. "Is it strange? Does it hurt?" he asked curiously.

Sasuke looked to the side, down at his son. What should he answer? Could he be honest to an almost 6-year-old? "It doesn't hurt," he reassured the young boy.

Akira blinked. "I think it's strange," he said honestly, like kids could so often be. "You're tou-chan, but I see Naruto." He started to stroke the soft red tail. "Can kitsune change bodies with others?"

Sasuke blinked at his son. "No. I told you this happened because of a jutsu."

"Oh," Akira said, sounding disappointed. He glanced up to his father. "What is it like to be a kitsune?" he asked curiously. Sasuke was unable to answer, but Akira kept trying to catch his eye.

"I think it would be fun to be a fox," Akira said after a while. Sasuke still didn't answer. "I would walk around the forest and make friends with other animals, like the birds," the boy continued. "And I would play with the butterflies and chase after bunnies."

Sasuke frowned. "I would prefer being a cat rather than being a fox," he said honestly.

Akira blinked, as did Sasuke at his own words. Sasuke opened his mouth trying to correct what he had said, but the damage had been done.

"Tou-chan would like to be a cat?" Akira asked

Sasuke waved his left hand, which still missed a finger. "No, no, not like that, I-"

"I would lie in the sun all day and play with the fishies in the pond. Cats can do that right? Tou-chan? What would you do?"

Thinking he had already said too much, Sasuke wisely refrained from answering that question. He avoided it by cleverly changing the subject. "What would you like to eat for dinner?"

Akira perked up. "I can choose?"

Sasuke grinned.

* I'm referring to the one-shot _Kisu_ of course ;)

-x-

Tsunade turned another page of a dusty old book. She was in a small circular room. A tiny window shone some light on her with books covered tiny wooden desk. The sunlight showed how dusty the room itself was as small particles drifted in the air.

She had been in this room for an entire day, and she had kept telling herself that 'after she had finished looking through _this_ book she would get out' for over three hours now.

With a deep sigh she turned the last page of yet another book, and put her hand over her face, rubbing her eyes. There had to be an answer how to switch Naruto and Sasuke back in one of these books. She was quite sure she had read something about it, even though it had been a very long time ago when she was still just a medical student herself.

As she closed the book, dust flew up all around her, not only from her surroundings, but also from the book itself. She stood up and lowered her hand. Perhaps she should have put someone else on this, but she was sure she was close to finding the answer. It was something she just had to do; that she needed to do. Her hand reached for the old doorknob and turned it. With a squeaking sound the old wooden door opened, and she stepped out of the old mouldy, but still pleasant smell of a room filled with old books, into the fresh air of the rest of the building.

Another deep sigh, and she locked the door before walking away.

-x-

Sasuke looked down on the drawing his son was making, and put a red pencil on the paper. He drew a couple of apples in the tree Akira had just made. He was sitting behind the small boy, who leaned over the round coffee table busy colouring. He was now busy drawing butterflies.

Sasuke, even though he had always liked Akira's drawings no matter what Naruto had said about them, had to admit that the afternoons Akira had spent with Sai during the last couple of weeks, had shown a very positive change in Akira's drawing. Sasuke hadn't thrown away a single drawing of Akira. He had even fished a few crumpled ones out of the trashcan. He could not even explain to himself why he had done so, but he safely kept them all in a drawer in the bedroom. He knew Naruto had seen him put some of the colourful papers away at some time, but had never said a word about it.

Sasuke put the red pencil away and got another pencil to draw a couple of flowers in the grass. Akira gave him directions about what colours he should use, and so Sasuke did.

At that moment Naruto came walking into the room. "Heya," he said. Sasuke and Akira looked up to him and saw him chuckle. As a result two eyebrows rose; one blond and one dark.

Naruto waved his hand in front of his face. "Oh, it was sooo funny," he laughed, and continued his explanation after noticing the questioning looks of the two colouring boys. "I ran into Sakura-chan on the market." Naruto walked over to the couch and sat down. He lifted the bag of tomatoes to Sasuke and Akira. "Want some?" Sasuke stared at the bag, not believing Naruto was eating tomatoes as if they were apples, and Akira shook his head politely. "She didn't even notice I wasn't you," Naruto laughed.

Sasuke frowned. "Really?"

Naruto nodded. "Of course it was not easy pretending to be you. I had no idea Sakura-chan was so different around you when you two are alone."

Sasuke looked up into Naruto's dark eyes. "Hm," he said shrugging, but it wasn't a very convincing shrug.

"She's more… less…" Naruto seemed to search for words, but could not find the right one as his long pause made clear.

"Not really," Sasuke said and turned back to his son, but Naruto stopped him by laying his hand on Sasuke's shoulder.

"What do you two talk about?" he asked.

"Nothing much."

Naruto narrowed his black eyes. He said nothing for quite some time, and Sasuke had already turned away when Naruto asked, "So what did you want to ask me?"

"Hm?" Sasuke looked up, frowning in confusion.

"Sakura said… you should ask me, so…"

Suddenly, Sasuke's blue eyes widened in realisation. "She told you?"

"More or less," Naruto answered casually, hoping it sounded like he had a fairly good idea what Sasuke was supposed to ask him, while in reality he didn't have a clue.

Suddenly Sasuke became red in the face. Small red blushes adorned his whiskered cheeks. He probably realised this, because he quickly turned away from Naruto. "So you… what did… you angry?" he mumbled.

Since Naruto did not know if Sasuke was supposed to ask him something he should be happy or angry about, Naruto decided to answer with silence. He had gotten accustomed rather quickly to this strange habit.

Due to the silence, Sasuke turned around, but saw no sign or emotion coming from Naruto through his own face; at least nothing that he could make sense of.

"I-" he started but stopped. Then he regained his normal self, and his face became near emotionless. "Hm."

This made Naruto smile. "I want you to ask me personally; I want to hear it from you," Naruto finally decided on saying.

Sasuke stared back. His expression was quite indecipherable, and Naruto was disappointed he could not read anything from his face at all. After a while Sasuke turned back to Akira, and Naruto started to feel the disappointment of not getting an answer.

"It's," Sasuke said softly, and for the first time Naruto felt this thing might be more important than he had ever thought possible. Again silence fell in which only Akira's pencils could be heard as they moved over the paper. Naruto started thinking of all kinds of possible subjects that could give Sasuke trouble talking about. Bad subjects came easier to mind, like diseases, having a depression and such, but Naruto was quite sure it wasn't any of that. Had he broken something, something precious? Was he about to make an important decision? He had found out a secret? Was it something life changing?

Before Naruto could think of any more reasons, Sasuke had turned back to Naruto. "You have no idea what it is about, do you?"

Naruto knew now that Sasuke had seen him thinking, and had of course drawn the right conclusion. Naruto bit his lip.

Sasuke nodded as if he understood something Naruto did not. "I see." He turned his head back to the table, and started to colour the trunk of the tree just as Akira had instructed. "You don't have to worry about it."

Naruto leant forward, hoping for more sentences to follow that would explain what Sasuke was talking about, but not even another word came. Knowing that Sasuke knew full well that he had only made Naruto even more curious, Naruto leant back against the couch and folded his arms. In turn Naruto knew Sasuke would not utter another word about the matter, no matter how hard Naruto would try. Naruto had his ways to persuade Sasuke, but some situations were just different. This was such a situation.

Brooding somewhat about this situation Naruto did not even notice Sasuke's uncomfortable shuffling and occasional glances in Naruto's direction.

Later that day Naruto went out into the garden to tend to it. He was relieved that watering the plants was still as satisfying as it had ever been. When he told Sasuke this, once the now blond had come to watch him, Sasuke said his liking of watering plants probably had nothing to do with the physical action, but with an underlying mental motivation.

Naruto frowned. "What do you try to say? That this is therapy for me?"

Sasuke shrugged. "I never said any such thing. I just said that you enjoy it more emotionally than physically."

Naruto thought this over while refilling the watering can. He couldn't exactly remember when his liking for watering plants had begun, but he knew it had been a long time ago.

Suddenly Sasuke gave a yelp of pain.

Naruto turned his head around quickly. "What's wrong?" He saw Sasuke clutching his left hand in his right.

Sasuke cursed and looked up to Naruto. "This really hurts." He held up the left hand, and Naruto saw how the last missing part of the hand was growing back. The smallest finger on his left hand was growing little by little.

"Wow, it kinda _does_ look interesting when you can't feel the pain," Naruto said interested, studying the ordeal before him. This earned him an irritated look. "Right, sorry," he apologized and stepped up to Sasuke, laying his hand on the now blond's shoulder. "It's only a little bit that still needs to grow back, so it should be over soon."

"I had forgotten about the missing pinkie," Sasuke said. "You never said it hurt this much," he groaned.

"You're just not used to my body," Naruto told him.

"You're really sensitive," Sasuke complained.

"No I'm not! You could just admit that growing back body parts is painful… besides, it's only a pinkie; imagine what it felt like to grow a shoulder," Naruto huffed.

Sasuke obviously could not think of anything to say at the moment, and instead watched in amazement how the last bit of flesh formed around fresh new muscles. At last when the nail was back, painfully pricking through the new skin and covering the top of his fingertip, Sasuke sighed and let himself slide down the wall until he sat on the porch.

"You made me complete," Naruto smiled. "Literally."

Sasuke looked up to see Naruto bowing over him, looking down upon the left hand Sasuke was still holding in his right hand. "I always knew I would," he said softly.

-x-

After dinner Akira played outside with Kou for quite a while until the sun started to set. Sasuke finally went out into the dark to get his son and send him to bed. Naruto watched Sasuke pass by the couch with Akira on his back, and pulled his legs up to make a path for the two.

Once they were up the stairs Naruto stared at the bookcase. He blinked and everything changed somewhat. He could see clearer; it was as if every detail in the room was recorded in his brain. He reached for a leaf of the plant next to him and pulled it back before letting it go. He saw the movement of the plant as if in slow motion, but at the same time the time wasn't slowing down. His eyesight was just much sharper and he could follow everything with precision.

As focussed as he was on the plant however, he did not notice Sasuke coming back downstairs. He only noticed him when he felt a weight on the couch.

"Playing around?" Sasuke asked, smirking.

Naruto turned his head around to face Sasuke. "Why- no, not playing. It's…" Naruto pouted and turned his head away.

"Look this way," Sasuke said, and Naruto turned his head toward Sasuke. A hand was placed on his cheek and directed his head toward Sasuke's torso. "Watch." Sasuke started to mould some chakra, and Naruto saw the colours of his own chakra move through (what was now) Sasuke's body.

"Amazing," Naruto said. He saw how from the stomach, the place where the seal was, red chakra was combined with yellow. He immediately knew, without having any reference, that this was unique. The two colours swirled around each other before mixing and together created the orange chakra Naruto was so familiar with. Every Rasengan he made had the same colour.

Naruto looked up to Sasuke's eyes. "And you always kept that to yourself," he said smirking.

Sasuke shrugged. "I wouldn't even know where to start to explain it to you."

Naruto thought this over. It was indeed hard to put this experience into words, but he knew Sasuke could have done it if he had really wanted too. He also knew the problem with that would not have been the words, but Naruto. He was quite sure that whatever way Sasuke would have found to explain this to him, he would never have understood.

Naruto sat back and closed his eyes. "I think I could get used to this."

"You better not," Sasuke said. "We will switch back to our own bodies."

Naruto suddenly grinned. "But what if we wouldn't?" He turned his now black eyes to Sasuke. "Could you get used to living like this?" He leant forward, closer to Sasuke.

Sasuke didn't answer immediately, and Naruto knew that this very thought had been scaring Sasuke for a while now. "No offence, but I would never be able to be you for ever," Sasuke said quietly.

Naruto grinned. "Yeah, you're right, you wouldn't be able to pull off a convincing me," Naruto said.

Sasuke raised his eyes. "Hmpf."

Naruto turned back. "I'm serious. No one would believe you. I bet they would see through you before they see through me." Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "I mean… you can't even laugh outside this house," Naruto mocked, waving his hand.

"I know what you are trying to do," Sasuke said, turning away.

"Oh, I know," said Naruto, "but you also know I'm telling the truth. You wouldn't even be able to fool the neighbours."

"Like I want to."

"I wasn't talking about if you want to or not. I'm just saying… as a ninja… you lack in the department of fooling others."

"Naruto, you are only making a fool _of yourself_, please stop this."

Naruto shrugged. "Maybe, but now I know that there is at least one thing in this world that I am better at than you." Naruto smiled his famous foxy smile, even on Sasuke's face. Then he walked out of the room.

Sasuke huffed. Naruto would not get to him; it was too obvious a trap. He would not pretend to be Naruto around anyone. He was himself, and he would not help Naruto with his… pranks.

A couple of minutes later Naruto came back into the room with two cups of some warm chocolate milk. He put them on the table, and smiled strangely at Sasuke -a bit too polite- before he sat down next to him. Sasuke gave a short nod as thank you and continued reading his book. After a while he leant forward to get his chocolate milk. As he moved toward the cup, he could feel something was happening. He didn't know what, and he didn't even think Naruto moved, but somehow his mood or the atmosphere changed.

Seeing his own smirking face Sasuke lifted an eyebrow, and moved the cup up to his lips. Before he could take a sip, or even lift the cup closer than 10 centimetres to his face, Naruto stopped him with a pale hand.

"Whipped cream?" he asked in a deep voice. Sasuke saw something unusual shift behind the black eyes.

Sasuke's eyes slowly travelled to the can of cream in Naruto's right hand. "Sure," he said carefully. He watched Naruto smile and put some of the white cream on his drink. Naruto had his tongue out a little in concentration, which Sasuke thought looked strange on his own face. Then Naruto lowered his arm and the can, and smiled once more.

Sasuke hardly dared to drink or even move closer to his cup, because Naruto kept grinning at him. He tried to drink repeatedly, but after moving the cup away before it even touched his lips for the sixth time, Sasuke finally put it down. "What?"

Naruto's eyes widened as he looked into Sasuke's eyes. "Hm? You don't like it?" he asked innocently.

"I have no idea; I can't drink with you grinning like that."

Naruto's smile got wider. "Oh?"

"What did you do with it?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto's face fell. "Nothing… why would I… what could I have done with it?" He sounded seriously insulted and confused.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Then why are you staring at me?"

"Come on, Sasuke, like I never stare at you."

Sasuke actually smiled at that, and lifted his cup again to let it finally touch his lips. He drank a little, and before he could lick his lips clean Naruto was doing it for him. Sasuke finally had an idea what Naruto had been waiting for.

Naruto sat back again and stared out in front of him innocently, like nothing had happened. Sasuke smirked and again drank some of the hot beverage. Once more Naruto was leaning over as soon as Sasuke had put enough space between the cup and his lips to move in between. This time Naruto did not pull back, and Sasuke put his cup down on the table before a stain might form.

The cup had barely touched the table when he felt his shirt (Naruto's only blue shirt) being lifted over his head. With one hand Naruto pushed him over and with the other reached for something. Sasuke looked up and noticed…

The whipped cream.

"Hm," he said before Naruto started to spray it over his torso. Naruto started to lick Sasuke's tanned skin, and played with the bellybutton before unbuttoning the black pants. He held up the can again and grinned at Sasuke before spraying some more on his chest, going lower and lower.

Sasuke watched Naruto's movements with interest, and was quite surprised when Naruto stopped and suddenly got up. He stepped away from the blond and walked out of the room, leaving an aroused Sasuke behind.

All alone, covered in the white cream, Sasuke waited for Naruto to return, but he did not. "Naruto?" he growled softly.

Naruto stuck his head around the corner of the kitchen. "What is it, Sasu?" he asked in an overly sweet voice, which amazed Sasuke that he could do such a thing with Sasuke's deep voice.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked, trying to keep any emotion from his trembling voice.

"Nothing," Naruto said honestly. "Why?"

Sasuke was officially annoyed. "Really?" he asked.

"Really," Naruto repeated. "Why… oh, you were referring to the…" Naruto moved his hand around the corner and waved his finger over to Sasuke's body, "cream and such?"

Sasuke said nothing, he was sure the look on his face spoke many more words than any actual spoken words could.

"Ah, well, you know." Naruto took a step into the living room. "I started to wonder just now… would the real Sasuke do something like this? I mean, if I would try to be you, there is no way you would leave me lying there like this, right? You wouldn't be able to leave me there like that… It would be too tempting, too irresistible. But then I thought I'm not you."

"What?" Sasuke asked, frowning.

"If we would pretend to be each other," Naruto clarified. "Would you do something like this?" he asked and waved his hand over to Sasuke once more.

Sasuke just stared back, an eye twitching.

"I thought you wouldn't. Then I decided _I should_ leave you like this, just for fun."

Sasuke closed his eyes. His eyebrow was twitching, his hands formed into fists, the red bushy tail sweeping against the side of the couch in an annoyed way. "Get…" he said through gritted teeth, "your ass…" Naruto grinned at him, "over here," he nearly yelled.

"No," Naruto said simply. Sasuke opened his eyes, and cast a dangerous look at Naruto. He would have dropped death right now if it wasn't for his immunity to his own blue eyes. "Unless…" Naruto trailed on softly.

"Don't be so stubborn," Sasuke said. "You wouldn't leave me lying here like this either."

"I just did, didn't I?" Naruto smirked, and Sasuke was well aware Naruto really _could_ leave him lying here like this; leaving without a second thought. Hating his own weakness, Sasuke growled softly again.

"Okay, I'll pretend to be you," Sasuke said irritated, "and you can pretend to be me. Now clean me up." Naruto smiled and his dark eyes sparkled. "The proper way," Sasuke added growling.

Naruto jumped up in excitement, and walked over to where Sasuke was lying on the couch. "Promise? Then the bet is on?"

"Yes, yes, only if you do things right," Sasuke said, very annoyed and frustrated.

Naruto hunched down next to him. "Oh, don't worry about that." He bent his head over Sasuke and started licking.

-x-

Naruto nuzzled Sasuke's chest, and wrapped the sheets of their bed tightly around his still warm body. He brushed a damp lock of dark hair from his eyes and looked up to Sasuke, who leant against a small pile of pillows, looking up at the ceiling.

"You're not mad, are you?" The now raven asked.

Sasuke's blue eyes lowered onto Naruto. "You made up for everything," he said softly, his fox ears moving back. A small blush formed on his cheeks.

Naruto grinned stupidly, and laid his head down again, resting his cheek against Sasuke's chest. "It will be fun, I promise."

"Hn."

"I'm looking forward to living your life. I wonder if it is different than I think it is."

Sasuke looked out of the open window. "Hm, yes, interesting," he said softly. It _really_ might be interesting to be Naruto for a while.

Naruto tightened his grip around Sasuke. "We'll see who gets found out first; you… or me," Naruto said. "To those who know we have switched bodies, we can tell we are back to normal."

"No," said Sasuke.

Naruto frowned and moved his head to look up to Sasuke's face. "You don't think you could fool my team?"

"I won't do this because of a prank. This is a bet." Sasuke crossed his arms, and gave Naruto a look that was very close to his usual 'you're-going-to-far, don't-exaggerate' look.

The look was too convincing for Naruto to go against it. "Fine," he said reluctantly. From experience he knew it was useless to oppose this look. "Fine… but you will still train them. If Sakura or Kakashi comes looking for me… they will immediately know something isn't right."

Sasuke considered this. It actually took him quite a while to answer, and Naruto knew why. He was still against all this as a prank; he needed to be sure it was just a bet about skills, not to amuse Naruto. Of course Sasuke knew Naruto would consider this a prank no matter what Sasuke decided, but Naruto didn't feel like pointing this out. "It's all or nothing. You want to know what my life is like? You will have to train then," he decided on saying instead.

"Alright," Sasuke finally said. Then he grinned. "You'll lose this bet too." He closed his eyes, and moved the fox tail around Naruto's middle.

"I'm in your body now," Naruto said, "remember? And Sasuke never loses to Naruto." Then he frowned. "I can't believe I actually said that…" Confounded he stared out into the dark. "Why did I say that?" he asked softly. Then shook his head. "Stupid body of Sasuke…" Then he sighed.

Sasuke grinned.

"But I can't stay mad at it for too long either…" Naruto muttered. "I hate you but I love you too. I guess it will always be like that."

-xXx-

Naruto sighed at the filled bowl of ramen with it's wonderful odours spreading into the air, it's delicious contents perfectly balanced in the bowl, and moaned softly. "Why…. Why the ramen… anything but the ramen…" he almost whispered.

Sasuke frowned while he looked down at the bowl of ramen and then to Naruto. "You're not going to cry now, are you? You will have lost the bet after just one day." He smirked.

His lip quivered for a moment, but when Teuchi turned around to his visitors, Naruto showed a straight face.

In Teuchi's eyes, he saw Naruto grin and Sasuke silently sulk over the fact that he had been dragged into the ramen stand once more.

"I'm so glad we're back. I missed you so much," the blond said, he picked up his bowl and hugged it. "Love of my life."

The raven lifted an eyebrow. "Haha, Naruto," Teuchi said. "Don't exaggerate; though I do appreciate the compliment." He winked at the blond, whom he thought was Naruto.

Naruto turned back to his own ramen, and took a sip after a 'hn' had left his lips.

"Ah, don't worry Sasuke-kuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun," Sasuke said to his own body, "You'll always be my number one." He lowered the bowl and gave Naruto a one armed hug.

Teuchi laughed once more along with Naruto before turning back to his kitchen.

Naruto pushed Sasuke's arm off his shoulder. "I don't act like that…" he muttered softly.

Sasuke smirked. "I don't see Teuchi being suspicious of me at all," Sasuke whispered back, and slurped the last bit of ramen from the bowl. "Hmmm," he said aloud, making sure both Naruto and Teuchi heard him finish his food.

Naruto's eye twitched, followed by a jealous and envious look at Sasuke. He took another sip of his own ramen with a bitter look on his face. "Usuratonkachi," he said softly.

This only earned him a smirk from the blond.

"You will pay for this," he whispered so softly, even Sasuke could barely hear it.

Trying to keep from crying over his lost love of ramen, Naruto finished his own bowl before the two set off.

"You will enjoy spending time with my team," Naruto said after a while, hoping to get back at Sasuke soon.

Sasuke said nothing.

"I'll be off to a boring ANBU meeting. I can't believe I'm a member now." Naruto grinned, apparently having recovered from his de-ramening confrontation. "Say hello to my team." He bent over to Sasuke, kissed him on the cheek, gave him a grin, and took off into the other direction.

Sasuke, still not used to the fact that he needed to stand tip-toe to reach Naruto, frowned and started walking again. He folded his arms. He still wasn't entirely sure if it had been a good thing that Naruto had… convinced him (more like tricked him – how had he done that?) into accepting the bet.

He stepped onto the green grass of training ground 3. He looked around before heading to the wooden posts. There, Ryomaru was already waiting. He was fiddling with his new red sweater. Sasuke walked up to him and leant against the most right post. Ryomaru looked up, said his greeting and looked down again, only to look up with wide dark eyes. "Sasuke-sama?" he asked in disbelief.

Sasuke nodded, and immediately Ryomaru closed up, unable to speak. It wasn't until Eri and Kenji came to the training ground that words would be spoken again.

"Ohayo Sasuke-sama. Where's Naruto-sensei?" Eri asked, looking around. "Unless…" she looked up to Naruto's form and stood on her toes to examine his face through narrowed green eyes.

"No, we haven't switched back yet," Sasuke said and straightened up, unfolding his crossed arms.

"I thought so," Eri said softly.

Kenji's eyes suddenly widened. "Are you going to train us today?" he asked excitedly.

All three students looked up with bright faces. Sasuke nodded.

"Yes!"

"What are we going to do?" Eri asked enthusiastically.

Sasuke looked out over the wide field. "You three can start by giving me 20 laps around the field."

"Yes, Sasuke-sama," the three said in unison and jogged away.

"It's _sensei_ on the field," he said, preferring to be called sensei rather than sama.

"Hai, sensei."

Sasuke let them do some other warming-up exercises before he told them what he had planned for the day. "I'm going to teach you a new formation."

"Really? What kind of formation?" Eri asked exited, even though she was a bit exhausted by Sasuke's warming-up.

"One I thought up especially for this team." Some exited murmurs sounded, but Sasuke held up his hands. "I based it on a formation team 7 uses."

Next he started to explain the formation, how it worked, when it could be used, what kind of situation it was devised for, when they shouldn't use it, and even how they could use the formation if they had a replacement. It took about an hour for Sasuke to finish his very thorough explanation.

Eri blinked lazily before Sasuke clapped his hands together, indicating for the three to step onto the field. Eri looked up startled. Kenji had, of course, hung to Sasuke's lips, memorizing every word, and Ryomaru had politely listened without falling asleep.

Soon the trio would figure out Sasuke was not only thorough with his explanation, but as well when it came to their positions and movements. Ryomaru wondered, whilst timing his jutsu with Kenji, if Sasuke had been like this on their previous trainings. It wasn't until noon had passed when he figured out why Sasuke had gone in such depth about this training session.

"Hurry, Eri-chan, if you don't do it right, we won't finish this training today, and will not be able to do the formation," Kenji told a slightly irritated Eri.

"Then you can try being a bit more flexible!" Eri yelled back.

Sasuke silenced them with just a look. "Don't worry, I'll be training you the rest of the week."

Mouths fell open. "Really? Why?" Eri asked.

"Hn," Sasuke said, looking away. "Just worry about the formation."

An hour later Naruto landed on the middle of the wooden posts and hunched down on it, his head hanging. "Now I know why I'm not an ANBU. Meetings are boring. For a while I was quite sure I would die."

Sasuke, who had been leaning against the most right pole, narrowed his eyes in a disapproving way. "You _did_ pay attention, didn't you?"

Naruto abruptly lifted his head. "Of course! That's what you would do, but still…" He rubbed his temples. "Too much info~," he whined.

Sasuke rolled his eyes before turning to Naruto's team. "You can stop," he shouted out over the field, and the trio immediately did so. Panting they walked over to the two adults, and sat down on the grass.

"What did you make them do?" Naruto wondered out loud, looking down over his students.

"Best… training… ever," Kenji said between breaths.

Naruto lifted his thin black eyebrows, but said nothing. He watched the trio sit down by the wooden posts. "Eh, Sasuke, can we have a talk?" He pointed over his shoulder.

Sasuke started walking to some bushes, and Naruto jumped off the poles, following him. "You eh… what are you teaching them?" Naruto asked slightly concerned when he looked over Sasuke's head to see his team lying almost K.O. on the ground.

"A new formation."

Naruto stared down at Sasuke. "A new formation?" he repeated slowly.

Sasuke nodded and folded his arms over his chest. "A new formation," he stated once more.

Naruto wasn't sure how to continue, and thus he went for the easy way out. "Okay," he said smiling, and walked away. If this was too difficult or to taxing on his team, Sasuke would find out sooner or later.

Sasuke stopped Naruto by putting his tail in front of Naruto's stomach. "Why?"

Naruto turned back to Sasuke. Oh, how much he missed looking up to Sasuke's face instead of down at his own. "No reason, just curious."

Sasuke narrowed his blue eyes. "Hn."

Naruto grinned at him. "Oh, I had a question…" Sasuke's eyes narrowed even further.

"Tonight, could you-" Naruto suddenly stopped, and looked over Sasuke's shoulder. Sasuke had already turned around to look at the three people coming onto the training field. Naruto turned to his team when he recognized the three Grass ninja.

"Eeeeeh? Ru-ru…" Eri stuttered at the sight of their rivals from the chuunin exams.

"Oh my," Kenji said, "Eri-chan, look, it's your boyfriend. What's his name?"

Two of the three grass shinobi stayed near the edge of the training ground, but one came forward and walked over to Eri, Kenji and Ryomaru.

"Eri-chan," Ruki greeted, and nodded to the other two.

"Ruki… What are you doing here?" Eri asked, turning somewhat red in the face.

"We had a mission, and when we were here I wanted to see you again," Ruki said, only a smile visible through the mask.

"Well… it's… it's nice to see you again," Eri said, smiling shyly.

Kenji started to laugh loudly, and Eri turned an angry face to him. "Kenji, shut it!"

"I'm sorry, Eri-chan, but seeing you with your boyfriend-"

"Boyfriend?" Ruki asked.

Kenji and Eri turned to Ruki; Eri blushing madly, shaking her head. Kenji smirked. "Not?" he asked.

Ruki shook his head. "Well, that's impossible I'm afraid."

The smirk on Kenji's face fell, and Eri seemed a bit… disappointed? "What do you mean?" Kenji asked.

Ruki turned to Eri. "You like me?" the Grass ninja asked.

Eri, by now completely red in the face, bit her lip. "N-no," she said. Before Kenji could laugh at her, she punched him in the gut, and he doubled over.

"Ahw, that's so sweet," Ruki said, and stepped closer to Eri. Eri almost took a step back when she saw Ruki raise a hand, and pull of the mask.

Eri's mouth fell open, as did Ryomaru's. Kenji stared wide-eyed.

"You're a girl?" Eri asked stunned.

Ruki smiled. A girl with short dark hair and cobalt blue eyes stared back at Eri's green eyes. "You didn't notice at all?" Ruki asked, grinning.

Eri had turned speechless, her eyes still wide and mouth slightly opened. Ruki leant forward and kissed Eri on the cheek. "Hope to see you again sometime. Ja na." Ruki waved goodbye, and walked off to her team.

It was a smart move of Kenji not to say anything at the moment. Ryomaru, blushing, turned away and obviously didn't know what to do. Eri stood rooted to the spot.

Naruto elbowed Sasuke. "Will you look at that," he said.

Sasuke pushed the elbow aside. "Hn."

-xXx-

Naruto folded his arms over his chest, and looked down on his two teammates. He frowned and huffed.

Sakura smiled and stared at the tall raven in front of her. "What are you so frustrated about, Sasuke-kun? You're the one who didn't mind training me?" She looked over to the object of Naruto's (but what she thought was Sasuke's) stare. "You can still be with Naruto tonight, you just have to share with me," she turned back to Sasuke and grinned devilishly.

"Hn." He turned his black eyes away from the other two, and instead directed them at a small, near mirror image of his current self. Akira smiled at him, and Naruto winked at the small boy. Earlier on, Akira had promised he would play along with their pretence if he could come along with the two of them to the training ground.

"Ne, Sasuke, don't you want to do this? Then why did you drag me over here for?" Sasuke said, frowning. He crossed his arms and pouted.

It was quite the truth that Naruto had dragged Sasuke with him to the training ground. Naruto had no idea how to teach Sakura anything about genjutsu. He had managed to make Akira convince Sasuke to come along; which had been easier than he had thought.

"Hmm, you're right," he smirked. "Alright." He turned back to the other two. "Let's give Akira a show." He smiled at the young boy, who looked up excitedly. Naruto stepped forward and loosened the muscles in his neck.

"Let's continue where we left off. Naruto would be an ideal subject." Sakura turned toward Sasuke, who held his face in fake surprise. "We were developing a new genjutsu that could be cast by two ninja's at the same time," Sakura told him. While she thought she explained this to Naruto, she was actually telling the only person on the field that already knew about this. It was a good thing that she had her back to the tall raven, because Naruto's eyebrows had lifted when he heard what the two had been training for.

"And why am I such a good subject then?" Sasuke asked, knowing Naruto was wondering this right now. However, he did not ask Sakura this for Naruto's sake, but because he did not want to lose their bet.

"Because casting a genjutsu isn't that easy, and this way we can figure out if it is more powerful than any other genjutsu we can cast."

In the meantime Naruto was starting to freak out. He had no idea if he was able to cast even a normal genjutsu, let alone one of Sasuke's level. To top it off, he had no idea about this genjutsu Sasuke and Sakura had been training for. With slight panic showing on his face he bit his lip, and thought deep of a time he had seen Sasuke perform a genjutsu. This morning he had been trying to cast a genjutsu on an innocent passer-by, and eventually he thought he might have been able to do so, but he had not been able to confirm this. He needed a plan. "Sakura," he called to Sakura with Sasuke's deep voice. Sakura turned around to face him. "Show him what we'll do."

Sakura nodded and turned back to Sasuke. She hadn't seen the look Sasuke had sent to Naruto while she turned her head, because when she faced Sasuke he showed a questioning look on the whiskered face. "You can just stay still over here. It would be easier if we can first test this on a stationary subject." Sasuke nodded. "Sasuke-kun and I will form the hand signs saru, tora, mi, ushi and uma-" Naruto was so relieved Sakura had taken his instruction this literally, "-and cast a genjutsu upon you. The tricky part is that we not only have to do this at the same time, but also with the same amount of chakra and intensity."

Sasuke nodded, knowing this full well. He just wanted to see how Naruto would get out of this situation without showing Sakura he wasn't the Uchiha she thought he was. "Right, just show me," he said impatiently.

Sakura nodded and turned back to Naruto, walking over to him. Sasuke saw Naruto perform the hand signs, and was surprised to see he was actually able to cast a genjutsu, even though it wasn't to Sasuke's standard. It wasn't at all synchronized with Sakura's, and Sakura wasn't blind, so she noticed all of this too. "Uhm, Sasuke-kun?" she asked, glancing up at Naruto.

Naruto showed with great restraint no emotion on his face, and looked over to Sakura coolly. "Hn."

Sakura said nothing, and brought up her hands once more, hoping Sasuke had just… made a mistake? She looked over to the blond, and saw he had not even noticed much of a genjutsu being cast upon him. He had easily lifted it.

Naruto closed his eyes and concentrated as hard as he could on all the 'genjutsu lessons' Sasuke had ever given him, but this only frustrated him even more. He did not remember much after all. So he tried a different approach. This was not his own body, but Sasuke's, which was used to performing genjutsus. This meant that he could do so too, as long as he could make this body remember how to do so.

Again he and Sakura performed the hand signs, and both cast their genjutsu upon Sasuke. Sasuke was surprised this time, and actually fell for the genjutsu for a moment. Naruto had done it, he had no idea how, but Naruto had cast quite the decent genjutsu. Sakura and the pretending Sasuke were still not synchronized, but he had reached almost the right standard.

Sasuke lifted the genjutsu, and saw Sakura talk to Naruto. She told the raven something about the chakra level she was using.

They continued their work the entire evening. Not once did the two synchronize, but they had come quite close so. Sasuke frowned after he had to dispel yet another illusion. He looked over to his son, who stood watching the trio happily from the side-line. It was about bedtime for the young man, but he couldn't say anything. He knew Naruto wouldn't mind if Akira stayed up a bit longer than normal.

"Sakura, what if I just copy-"

"No, I told you I need to be able to sync with you as well. What if you couldn't see me?"

"But just for now, on the training ground we could try. We haven't been able to pull this off correctly even once. Let's first focus on that," Naruto pressed on.

Sakura shook her head. "No, I think it's more important if we can feel each other instead-"

"Ho wo, what did I just hear?" Sasuke said.

Sakura and Naruto turned to the blond. "What?" Sakura asked. Naruto blinked.

"Feel each other?" Sasuke asked.

Sakura frowned. "Honestly, Naruto, you know we were talking about this jutsu."

"I think Naruto is getting frustrated he's not been able to show Akira-ku-" he quickly stopped himself from adding a full kun before continuing his sentence as if nothing was wrong, hoping no one would notice, " any cool moves," Naruto said to Sasuke.

Sasuke frowned, and puffed his cheeks very convincingly. Naruto had to admit he hadn't thought Sasuke would be able to show this much emotion on one day. "Ah, moo, let's go home. I thought this might be fun, but it's incredibly boring," Sasuke whined.

Naruto wondered if he really sounded like that, and when he glanced over to Sakura, he saw she believed it, because she didn't respond in any other way than by shaking her head. Naruto then looked over to Akira, and saw him yawn. Once the small boy noticed someone was watching him, he tried to hide his tiredness.

"We should go home," Naruto said. "Akira should get to bed." He turned his head back to the others. Then he added, "It's already way too late," after he had realized Sasuke had narrowed his eyes at this statement as if he wanted to say 'you finally noticed?'.

"No, tou-" Akira yawned once more, "-chan, I'm not tired…" Realising the yawn had ruined his credibility, his small shoulders slumped.

Naruto smiled, making sure no one noticed, before he walked over to Akira, and lifted him up. "Time for bed, young man."

Akira put his arms around Naruto's broad shoulders. "I don't want to, tou-chan," he said softly. Akira turned out to be a natural at acting.

Sakura smiled when she saw the two ravens interact, and turned to Naruto. "Those two are just the cutest, aren't they?"

Sasuke looked up to Sakura's green eyes. "Yeah," he said before turning to watch the two as well, "yeah, indeed."

Sakura leant against Sasuke's shoulder. "Don't worry; he loves you just as much." She pulled at his fox ears.

"I know, Sakura-chan… Please stop that," he said a tad annoyed when she kept pulling and moving the ears.

"You normally don't complain that much," she said before letting go. "Are you still angry we only casted genjustus upon you all evening? Or because we didn't cast a _nice_ genjutsu upon you?" She elbowed him and grinned.

Sasuke frowned. "Let's go home," he said and started walking away.

"I'm sorry, Naruto," Sakura said catching up to him.

They followed the two ravens while Akira sleepily talked to Naruto, who still pretended to be Sasuke.

"It's great to see how much they have grown together," Sakura told the blond beside her softly.

Sasuke looked up at her, and then turned to look at Naruto and Akira. Suddenly he smiled. He _had_ been growing closer to Akira.

Sakura looked away from the blond, and pointed at a side road. "Ah, I need to go this way." She turned on her heels and waved goodbye. "See you."

"Bye," Sasuke waved goodbye. He turned back to look at what was usually his own back and Akira smiling over Naruto's shoulder.

"You're lucky today," Sasuke said.

Akira smiled. "Right?"

They arrived at their house, and Naruto carried Akira up to his bedroom; Sasuke following behind them.

"Tou-chan, can I come more often?" Akira asked through half-lidded eyes, while Naruto pulled his pyjama shirt over his head. Akira looked up to Naruto. "Can I?"

Naruto blinked. "I'm okay with it," he grinned.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "What? No-"

"Yay!" Akira jumped up and embraced Naruto. "Thank you tou-chan."

Naruto felt the boy's small arms around his neck, and slowly turned around to face Sasuke, who seemed to have been frozen over. "Eh, Akira-kun… I'm Naruto, remember?"

With a soft yelp Akira let go of Naruto. "What?" He looked over to Sasuke.

Then Naruto started to laugh loudly. "Haha, we played our parts so well that you forgot?"

Akira started to fiddle with his shirt, not daring to look up at the two adults. "No… I… maybe?"

Naruto laughed some more, and reached out for the small raven boy. "Don't worry," he said, pulling Akira closer, "You were sleepy."

Akira bit his lip, and peered over Naruto's shoulder to his real father. Sasuke stared at the boy, who thought his father might be angry and cringed. Then Sasuke smiled slightly. Akira returned it before he yawned.

"Maybe it really is too late for you," Naruto said, lifting the boy onto the bed. He kissed Akira on the cheek and walked away. "Night."

Akira waited for Sasuke to come closer, and was glad to see he hunched down beside his bed, his arms resting on the mattress. "You had fun tonight?"

Akira nodded. "I did!"

"Well, I'm not planning on letting you stay up this late again, but…" He looked into the teal hopeful eyes, "I might bring you along to training more often."

Akira leant over to Sasuke and kissed him on the cheek.

-xXx-

Naruto flattened himself against a wooden panel dividing him from some very alert guards. Of course he wasn't so much interested in the guards, as in what they were guarding; the reason of his mission.

Naruto straightened his white mask, and took a silent deep breath. His mission was clear, and more importantly for him, easy to remember. He noticed a dark lock of hair fall onto the floor as it slipped down his mask. Without putting the lock of hair away he crawled forward as softly as he could. Sasuke's body, as tall as it was, was surprisingly agile and quiet. He positioned himself above the centre of guards underneath him. He could see their chakra signals through small slits in the ceiling, and waited for something to happen.

Twenty-seven seconds left. Naruto closed his red eyes while clutching a kunai in his left hand. He could understand what attracted Sasuke to becoming an ANBU. The adrenaline cursing through his veins was like crazy, nervous breaking, but at the same time addictive.

Twenty-one seconds left. Naruto was starting to fear the pounding of his heart would start to vibrate the panels he lay upon. He was quite certain that the guards would notice if dust started falling down upon their shoulders. It was a good thing the standard ANBU uniform had gloves, because it almost felt like he was lying on a carpet instead of wood; such a thick layer of dust had gathered. His nailed glove made a circle in the layer of dust.

Just ten more seconds. Naruto grinned as he thought of the surprised faces the guards would carry in a couple of seconds. A ceiling would not be the first time to be a ninja's hiding place, but the layout of this huge building, and the combination with the very, very tight security made it near impossible for someone to get to this place. Of course impossible did not exist in Naruto's vocabulary, so he had succeeded to end up in this typical, almost movie like, situation. The guards would not expect him to be here.

Three. Two. One.

Naruto looked around when nothing happened. His eyes moved left and right behind the mask, and he frowned. Had he made a mistake? Maybe he hadn't counted correctly, or his calculation-

"Aaaaaargh!"

Some guards walked to the door to see what was going on as a second explosion sounded.

As his cue was given, Naruto pushed himself up in the cramped space, and pushed down at the ceiling while his back hit a wooden beam. The wooden ceiling panel, as old as it was, easily gave way and fell down. Gracefully, in one smooth movement, Naruto slipped off the falling panel and softly laded beside the broken panel. In the confusion of dust and wood falling down, Naruto finished his mission.

The kunai in his left hand had gone; it was still hanging in the ceiling with a thin wire attached to it so that he would easily find his way back up. Thus he slipped out his katana with his left hand grasping over his right shoulder. The dust had not even had the chance to be pulled down by gravity before Naruto had done his job, and was already crawling back into the cramped space of the ceiling.

The soft thud of a body hitting the ground was the only indication for the guards that they were too late. A deep, clean cut sprayed the still pumping blood through the man's throat onto the walls and ceiling. The guards screamed and shouted in a state of near panic while the dust had not even settled down.

The tall body of Sasuke swiftly lowered through a small hole in the wall, landing without a sound in the shadows of a nearby room. There he gathered some chakra in his hand before putting the palm of it against a scroll he had rolled out earlier. The end of the scroll could not be seen, as it had been completely unrolled and went around a corner. When his hand touched the kanji symbol of fire at the beginning of the scroll, a reaction of explosions erupted all around him. He made a run for it.

He had to stop two times and hide in the shadows to not be noticed. One of two times he had nearly been discovered, but even in Sasuke's body, Naruto hadn't lost his touch of luck.

Not even three minutes later the cold air hit his mask and bare upper arms, and he quickly sought for the natural concealment in the surrounding flora. He summoned two small hawks and let them fly around unnoticeable. Quietly he knelt under a boulder where he had made some shelter for himself not even three hours ago. Hidden from view by stone and plants, Naruto lay still and kept quiet.

_The small woman that looked more like a high school girl paced in front of him. "Sasuke, normally I wouldn't have given you this mission, not alone, but I have no other choice. Considering you're the best I have, I am certain you will be able to succeed even without back-up." The girlish woman had an uncharacteristically deep and croaked voice as if she had been smoking since she was born._

_Naruto nodded and waited for more information to come. "Hai."_

_The woman handed him a picture. "This man is Umiyama Ginju. His assassination has been requested. As you know this isn't the first time someone has asked for this. Many shinobi have tried to kill this man, but as to this day none have succeeded nor lived to tell the tale." She ripped the picture out of his hands again; only Sasuke's keen eyesight had saved Naruto from asking to see the picture once more._

_She handed him a brown folder. "This is all the information we and our client have about Ginju's home." Naruto felt the paper weight in his hands. "It's not much, but what we have is stunningly accurate, and probably more than anyone has ever gathered. I want you to form a plan; a way to get in and out without anyone knowing what has happened. No one can know who was behind the murder; and none of his ten personal guards will live to see another day." _

_The grave deep voice of this surprisingly cheerily dressed woman made her words hit Naruto even harder than he could ever had thought they would. Naruto could finally understand why she had such a high rank. She was cut out for this job._

"_Hai."_

"_And one more thing, Sasuke, I want that file destroyed before you leave your house."_

Night had fallen before Naruto dared to start moving. Silently -especially for someone that had become stiff from lack of movement- he crept from under the bolder, and filled the hole he had made with dead leaves. Before he set out, he jumped up into the tree that was hovering high above the bolder he had just been hiding under, and checked for any unusual movements around the wooden fortress.

The two hawks returned to him, and told him which places he should avoid. Naruto nodded. "Great job guys," he said quietly.

The smaller of the two stared almost angrily at him with its permanent cool look. A tiny dark green haori was draped around his wings. "I also counted eleven bodies," he said, "just as you had told me."

Naruto grinned behind his mask. "Great. I'll make sure you'll be rewarded once I'm back in the village."

The two birds nodded and disappeared. Naruto turned around and made for a safe return home. He felt the weight, more the physiologic weight than the physical weight, of the katana attached to his right shoulder.

_Naruto leant away from all the papers scattered around him, and closed his eyes. He was tired, and longed for a soft bed. A gentle touch on his shoulder made him look up._

_Deep blue eyes looked down upon him. "Everything alright?" Sasuke asked softly._

_Naruto smiled. "Great."_

"_How was training with Sakura?" Sasuke sat down next to him._

"_She still hasn't found us out yet, even though I'm quite sure she saw me when I tried to make a Rasengan," Naruto said._

_Sasuke cast a glance over the papers. "ANBU mission," he said._

_Naruto nodded. "I've formed a plan, but…"_

_Sasuke picked up one of the papers with the missions details. Naruto let him read it since it officially was his mission. "I see," Sasuke said after a while. "What do you've got planned?"_

_Naruto was relieved he had not needed to ask Sasuke to look things over, but that he had offered his opinion instead. Naruto told him his plan; how he wanted to enter the building, how he would create a distraction, what the assassination would be like, and how he had planned to get out and back home again. All the while he pointed at the few papers with information he had._

"_And?" he finally asked. "Does Uchiha Sasuke think it's a decent plan?" Naruto asked, looking down at Sasuke, who sat beside him._

_Slowly Sasuke turned his head to look up into Naruto's face. "It's brilliant."_

Naruto yawned behind his mask, and closed the cape he wore around his cold body. He normally wasn't used to being cold, but he had been in Sasuke's body for quite a while now, and Naruto (though not liking it) had adapted to it. At least now he understood why Sasuke needed his touch so badly.

He shuffled a bit closer to the stem of the tree before wrapping his arms around his torso. He looked up at the sky through the round holes in his bird shaped mask. Being an ANBU was like having two lives. On the one hand you were a shinobi, but on the other hand it was much more than that. There was much more secrecy involved than in your typical three-man cell group. Naruto had to admit that being an ANBU seemed exciting, but he also saw how his dream of becoming Hokage was not in this direction.

His eyes fell on the asymmetrical moon lighting the earth. '_It's brilliant,_' echoed through his head and he smiled. "It was, wasn't it, Sasuke?"

-x-

Sasuke looked down at the scroll lying in front of him. Green eyes stared at him, waiting for him to speak. His arms folded, Sasuke pouted, something he had come quite used to these last weeks.

"I don't know Sakura-chan," he said, looking up to the pink-haired woman.

Sakura raised her elegant eyebrows. "Why, because Sasuke-kun is on an ANBU mission?" She folded her arms as well. "I told you even Tsunade-shishou offered to take Akira-kun in for a couple of days."

Sasuke felt something swell up inside his heart when she told him this once more. It was some form of pride and even joy. "I know, but Sasuke…" he said, knowing full well he would not have any problems with this arrangement at all, but felt like Naruto might be afraid he would.

He had lived with Naruto for so long now, had observed him over the years, and thought he had known the blond inside and out. Having switched bodies, he had found out he knew the outside perfectly, but the inside less than he would have liked. It had been more difficult to pretend being Naruto than he could have thought. He was sure Naruto had the same feelings about being him. How did Naruto come to certain conclusions? Sasuke had never known, and even now he still didn't, but slowly he had come to understand what drove Naruto, and had gained some insight in his way of thinking. Naruto was still, and would always be, the unpredictable ninja he was. This was what made Naruto so special, and something he now realised, he valued greatly about the Uzumaki.

"Hm, well, I guess it is a mission with just Sakura-chan, so…" he said, glancing up at her and grinning.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "No, Kakashi-sensei will be coming along as well."

Sasuke lowered his fox ears ever so slightly. "Ah, too bad." He grinned again. "We haven't been on a lot of missions together lately," he said.

"Then what did we do last week?" Sakura frowned. "Had a mini vacation?"

Sasuke closed his eyes and grinned sheepishly. "Right, I had forgotten about that."

Sakura shook her head while taking the scroll from his hand. "Very well."

Sasuke tilted his head. "Ne, Sakura-chan," he asked, but waited before continuing until she looked him in the eyes. He slowly moved his tail from left to right even without realising.

"Yes?" Sakura asked, wondering what Naruto wanted. She patiently waited for the blond to proceed.

"Have you… and Sasuke…"

Sakura's looked up in alert, she hid it well, but Sasuke wasn't Naruto, but he was certain even Naruto would have noticed the quick change of looks. "Have you two… been talking about something?" He stared at her. He was curious how much she had told Naruto the day they had met on the market, and perhaps after that. He knew Naruto didn't really know anything, but he also didn't know what she had said. He was curious… no, not curious, he needed to know her reaction.

Sakura laughed softly, and waved her hand. "Like what? You think we are keeping secrets from you?"

Sasuke shrugged. "I don't know, but I can feel there's something going on."

Sakura hid her slight panic very well. Sasuke knew she would never tell Naruto anything, she had promised him. She had even proposed it herself; most was her idea. "Hm, don't worry Naruto. Of course we talk about things I don't discuss with you, but the same goes the other way," she said.

Sasuke felt his eyebrows rise in surprise. Luckily Sakura would not confuse his look. "Really? Like what?" he asked automatically. Then he realised if she would answer, she would not tell him what she and Naruto talked about, but what she talked about with him.

"Well, we have… conversations…" Sakura said, looking away while a finger twisted one of her locks around.

"About…?" Sasuke asked, wondering what she would tell Naruto.

"Stuff; stuff you wouldn't want to talk about," she answered smartly.

Inwardly Sasuke grinned. _Sex_. He narrowed his eyes and pulled a face. "Ah, like books," he said.

Sakura took the excuse with both hands. "Yes."

Sasuke nodded, and was glad Sakura indeed kept their conversations private. He knew she wouldn't blab things around, but he had never been sure what she told Naruto. He turned away, ready to take off.

"But Naruto," Sakura said, stopping Sasuke. He looked around over his shoulder. "Don't worry. I appreciate the talks with Sasuke-kun, but I do ours too." Sasuke tilted his head and said nothing, unsure how to react. "We are a team after all, and I'm glad both of you confide in me even though it's not necessary."

Sasuke nodded, and the corner of his mouth curled up. "Yes, I feel the same way."

Sakura smiled. Then she walked up to him, and put her hand on his shoulder. "Let's have a drink together later tonight."

"Of course," Sasuke said, and they parted ways.

As he walked back home, to where Akira was, he wondered what the two talked about when they were alone together. He realised Naruto did tell him a lot, an awful lot, when it came to the conversations he'd had with others. However, as Sasuke went through his memories about the conversations Naruto had with Sakura, he couldn't really come up with much beside chit-chat (or what he considered chit-chat).

He opened the front door as a sudden realisation hit him. Did they have a usual meeting place? Before he could think this over, Akira was standing beside him. "What did Sakura no oba-chan say?" he asked friendly.

"It's a mission," Sasuke answered and took off his sandals. "Tsunade-sama has offered to let you stay over while Naruto and I are both gone."

"Really?" Akira asked. Sasuke straightened up, and looked down at his son's face. He nodded.

Slowly, carefully a smile started to form on the young boy's face. "I can… stay over at the Hokage's house?" he asked in a very small voice.

Suddenly Sasuke smiled. "Yes, she would be happy to have you over."

It was obvious Akira had trouble to grasp the entire impact of this news. He tried to contain his excitement, while at the same time his eyes nervously moved around the small hall. "I…" he said softly.

Sasuke lowered onto his haunches, and put his hand on the raven-haired boy's head. "You don't like that?" he asked, whilst knowing the answer. He waited for Akira to respond.

The boy looked up, his teal green eyes meeting sapphire blue. They widened, and Sasuke felt a little like he had his Sharingan back when he saw right in front of him how things happened exactly as he had expected to. Small fists grabbed his orange shirt, and the boy shivered ever so slightly before saying in quite the steady voice: "I do!"

Sasuke laughed and hugged the boy. He placed his hand on the back of Akira's head, and pressed it softly against his chest. He felt how Akira's hands moved around his waist to return the embrace, even though he was sure the boy was a bit surprised. Sasuke lightly laid his cheek lightly on the boys head. "You're very special."

-x-

_His tail swept back and forth in annoyance. His ears lay flat against his should be yellow hair. A deep frown stared at the taller man opposite him, who smirked. _

"_It's not funny," Naruto said as he tried to get some of the mud off his body._

_Sasuke showed little remorse while he watched the blond trying to make an attempt at cleaning his orange clothes and green jounin vest. After a short while he stepped forward and removed some grass from Naruto's blond spikes and fox ears. "It was an accident," he said suddenly._

_Naruto looked up at those words that might possibly be the closest he would get to an apology. "You pushed me," Naruto sneered._

"_Accidentally," Sasuke reassured._

_Naruto narrowed his blue eyes further. "It was not," he said stubbornly, and pushed Sasuke's hand away from his ear. He turned around and strode off, leaving Sasuke behind with a tied up ninja._

"_Is he…" the brown haired ninja asked slowly from behind Sasuke, "your boyfriend?" He cocked an eyebrow._

_Sasuke turned to the shinobi sitting on the muddy ground behind him, and roughly caught his collar. Without answering he unceremoniously hoisted the ninja over his shoulder, and followed Naruto._

"_Haha, you are in trouble now," the ninja said, and Sasuke considered dropping him. "I know you pushed him on purpose," he continued as if he didn't care he was slung over a tall ninja's shoulder, and most likely to be brought to a prison._

"_Shut up," Sasuke grunted softly, not feeling like talking at the moment. He hoisted the man in a better position, hoping the hustling around would make him stop talking._

_In front of the raven, a couple of meters between them, Naruto was still brushing off the slowly hardening mud combined with some grass, grumbling as he did so. His muddy tail still made jerky movements out of anger._

"_Taking your anger out on me won't make you feel better," the ninja on Sasuke's shoulder said._

_Sasuke narrowed his eyes. Maybe he should knock this guy out first; he didn't care that the mission said to bring this guy home uninjured._

"_And you even stepped on that strange dog tail of him," the shinobi continued to annoy Sasuke. "That did look painful. Of course I don't know for sure, never seen a guy with a tail before."_

_Did the mission say anything about mental damage? Maybe a genjutsu would make this man stop talking. _

"_I know that was accidental, but you didn't even apologize?" The man shook his head. "And he just smiled at you. Is he an idiot? Maybe he _did_ trip over his own feet before he fell into that mud pool. He doesn't look too bright anyway."_

_Sasuke grunted. "I'm sure you noticed the fox ears," he said in a low voice, trying to keep his growing irritation in check. "He can hear everything you're saying."_

"_Really?" The brunet was quiet for a while. "Ah, well, got nothing to lose anyway," and he continued badmouthing Naruto and Sasuke. "Are you two really together? It just seems so unlikely. You two don't fit together at all," he finally said. _

_The only good thing was that with that said, the brunet kept quiet from then on. No matter the mission, Sasuke had been at the verge of shoving his kunai up this man's a-_

"_Was it left or right?" Naruto asked, abruptly bringing Sasuke out of his thoughts. He wasn't facing Sasuke while he asked this._

_Sasuke looked at the fork in the road. "Left."_

_They walked on in silence for about ten minutes before they reached a small house hidden in a stone wall. Sasuke followed Naruto to a room guarded by two Konoha ANBU. "We got him," Naruto said, pointing over his shoulder._

_One of the two ANBU inspected the man, who was now all of a sudden quite nervous once he saw the masked man leaning over him. "Alright," the ANBU man said softly. He straightened up again. "I'll finish this," he said in a scary voice, holding his arms out to Sasuke, indicating he should hand him the man._

"_No, wait, wait," the shinobi started struggling, "I didn't mean what I said earlier, don't kill me!"_

"_Oh, shut up," Sasuke said, lowering the man to the ground. "They won't kill you."_

_Still not very convinced, the man was dragged by the ANBU into another room. "Wait!" was the last thing that came from him._

"_Ha," the other ANBU laughed. "He will wish we killed him once he faces his mother," and he loughed louder._

_However, the laughter of the ANBU quickly became a mere uncertain chuckle as he noticed the mood of the two shinobi in front of him. Naruto, always cheery in the man's memory, frowned angrily. His face, still with some mud here and there, was turned away from the tall raven Uchiha, who did not seem all too happy himself._

_The ANBU swallowed. "Well," he said, hoping he didn't upset them any further by just talking, "thanks for your work."_

_The two men turned around, and again with some distance between them they left the hidden house. Naruto led the way once more, while Sasuke watched his stiff back all the way until Naruto stopped and started to set camp for the night. Silently the two worked beside each other. Sasuke once opened his mouth to say __something and try to__ make Naruto smile, but was faced with two furious blue eyes that even had vertical slits._

_For some reason Sasuke did not feel like lightening the mood anymore since then. He stubbornly turned his back to Naruto, and pulled his thin blanket up, missing Naruto's warmth from the bottom of his heart._

_After Sasuke had finally fallen asleep, Naruto got some water and tried to wash his face, but all they had was a small water bottle that was already half empty. His dirty fox ears twitching in annoyance Naruto threw the empty bottle aside. An angry snarl escaped his lips before he leant against a bolder, and fell asleep surprisingly fast._

_When he woke up the sun had just started its __ascent__ into the sky. Lazily he opened his eyes and looked around, wondering what had made him wake up this early. Thinking it might have been a bug after all, Naruto pulled his collar higher up, and closed his eyes again. Then suddenly he heard Sasuke mutter in his sleep._

_Naruto opened his eyes again and glanced over to the raven, who still seemed to be fast asleep. His face was calm and clearly visible above the blanket. Naruto lowered his head again, ready to get some more sleep, when Sasuke muttered something again. "Ku," was all Naruto heard. Ignoring Sasuke, Naruto tried to fall asleep again, but Sasuke kept repeating a single word in his sleep while his cheeks slowly turned red._

_Naruto was about ready to throw the empty water bottle at Sasuke to make him shut up when he realised what Sasuke was saying. Narrowing his eyes he heaved the bottle higher, but right then Sasuke woke up all of a sudden. Naruto threw the bottle at Sasuke, hitting him in the side softly (it had long lost its velocity when it reached Sasuke) and turned his back to the raven._

_The raven blinked and looked around. Sitting up, he realised why he'd woken up. He looked over to Naruto to ask for his assistance with his small problem under the blanket, when all he got to see of Naruto was the back of his jounin vest and a fluffy, muddy tail sweeping the floor resentfully. Wondering if Naruto was still angry even after a night of sleep (which was highly unusual), he finally had to face the fact that Naruto would not help him this time. He softly sighed in sadness while his lower region screamed for Naruto's touch. _

-x-

Naruto walked up to the Hokage tower, grinning. He had just brought Akira to a friend's place and felt like paying Tsunade a visit. He climbed the stairs, and listened at the door to see if she had any visitors. When no sound but that of a scratching pencil met his ears, he brushed his fist against the wood before opening the doors. Tsunade looked up. She had not even been able to let him in, and frowned at the raven haired man.

"You still have to knock," she told him.

"I did, sort of." Naruto grinned like only he could, which made Tsunade laugh.

"Have you ever told Sasuke to smile more?" she asked him.

"Hundreds of times," Naruto said while he sat down on the corner of her desk. "And sometimes he even listens to me."

Tsunade stared at the papers he sat on, but said nothing of it. "I must admit it suits you better though," she admitted.

Naruto moved his eyebrows up and down. "Right?" he said happily. "Any news on that?" he asked, looking down at the light blonde woman.

Tsunade considered him for a while, as if she was scanning him. "How do you feel?" she asked him instead.

Naruto lifted a single eyebrow before answering. "Quite alright actually."

Tsunade nodded. "I thought so," she said, and then she shook her head. "No, I haven't found the answer yet, but I'm waiting for a response from the stone country," she told him.

"Stone?" Naruto asked, frowning.

Tsunade nodded and picked up some files, making a neat pile of them. Naruto followed the papers, and every time they hit the desk he blinked. Tsunade stopped and put the files on a pile beside her desk. Only then she answered. "The Sasaki clan has a similar jutsu to that of the woman that switched the two of you."

"Hm," Naruto nodded. "I see." He looked down on the next file which she opened and started to read. He watched her read it, then sign the papers before he turned away to the window. He watched the Hokage mountain for a while. "Need any help?" he asked without looking away from the massive stone faces.

Naruto heard her pen stop writing, and felt her eyes upon his side. "You could read and approve those reports," she said, pointing to another pile of papers.

Naruto followed her finger and stood up. He walked around her desk and made a Bunshin. It performed a simple seal before it transformed into a chair. He sat down on it, and reached over Tsunade's work to get a pencil. He started to read the files.

After a while they both looked up when someone knocked on the wooden doors. Shizune entered with a tray on which she carried tea. "Naruto-kun, I saw you get in," she said, putting the tea down.

Naruto grinned. "Thanks."

Shizune smiled at him. "I only realised it wasn't Sasuke-kun when I started to wonder why ever he would be in here this long."

Naruto laughed. "I must admit I sometimes start to feel like I'm actually Sasuke," Naruto said, scratching the back of his head.

Tsunade's face showed a brief sign of concern before she raised a thin, short eyebrow. "So you two are still at it then?"

Naruto turned to her. "Why, we haven't been found out yet," he said grinning. "It's fun fooling people."

Tsunade shook her head. "So that's why Sasuke went on that mission instead of you."

Naruto smiled. "Sasuke will have a difficult time to pretend he knows old man Gato, while he has never met him before in his life."

Shizune giggled. "You did tell him you know Gato?"

Naruto shook his head, "Sakura-chan already did so. Sasuke did come to me after that to ask me who he was. Of course I didn't tell him everything."

"They should have finished that mission a couple of days ago," Shizune said.

Naruto shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so."

"And they're not back yet," Shizune went on.

"That's because they were in the same area of another mission, so I sent Kakashi a messenger bird," Tsunade said without looking away from the paper she was reading.

"Oh. He could have told me that, that teme." Naruto pouted.

"It was an emergency mission," Tsunade informed.

Naruto sighed. "Now he'll be away even longer," he said, letting his shoulders slump sadly.

"Don't worry Uzumaki," Tsunade said, "You'll survive."

Naruto glared at her from the corners of his eyes. "You never know, maybe I will die," he said softly.

Tsunade reached a hand out to his shoulder, blindly searching for it before she patted it; her eyes still fixed on her work. Without any hint of sympathy she said, "Of course you will survive, you've been separated before, and for a much longer time."

Naruto pursed his lips. "Well… that cheers me up," he said monotonously, looking through half closed eyes.

"Great, then you can continue your work," Tsunade told him.

Naruto blinked at her. "_My_ work?" He shook his head, and turned back to the report he had been reading from a ninja with a very bad handwriting.

Shizune smiled and left the two alone, getting to her own work.

It wasn't for about two hours later that Naruto reached the bottom of the pile of reports. He signed the last one after he'd read it, and put all the files away in a cabinet.

"You could help me get through this heap of ANBU missions," Tsunade said before Naruto closed the drawer of the metal cabinet.

"Sure." Naruto went back to the desk, and picked up the first scroll he could grab. "I heard Nezumi-san got injured," he said.

Tsunade looked up to Naruto, but did not ask how he knew that the rat masked woman had been wounded on her last mission. "She did not make it," Tsunade said sadly.

"Oh," Naruto said shocked. "I had no idea it was that serious."

Tsunade shook her head, but said nothing.

After a while she again turned to him. He was bending over a neatly written form. A frown was on his face, and she noticed he was reading parts twice before continuing. Tsunade immediately knew who had filled in the form, but said nothing. This man liked to be a bit cryptic.

"I need a file from the large cabinet," she said.

Naruto, glad he could put the difficult to decipher form aside, stood up quickly. He opened the double doors to the waiting room, whilst grinning at Tsunade. "Don't worry, I'll find it before you can say- _Sasuke_?"

Naruto had turned his head into the next room, and saw 'himself' sitting on a chair with a red cloth wrapped around his right hand. Sakura was sitting next to Sasuke, fussing about the hand, which the now blond tried to keep away from her. Kakashi stood lazily leaning against the wall, reading one of his beloved books; pretending like he wasn't interested in what was happening between his students.

They all looked up to Naruto when he opened the doors, and a few frowns were shown once his finished sentence hung in the air.

"What happened?" Naruto demanded from Sasuke, stepping towards him. Sasuke shrugged as if he didn't care that a bloody cloth was wrapped around his hand. Naruto sat down on his haunches, and took the hand in his own. Sasuke winced.

"_What happened_?" he demanded once more, looking up at Sasuke with both anger and concern on his face.

"Nothing-" Sasuke started, but Sakura slapped him on the shoulder before he could say any more than that.

"Nothing? _Nothing?_ You call losing fingers nothing?" she asked angrily. "I suppose after growing back an arm-"

"WHAT?!" Naruto yelled angrily, turning back to Sasuke. "You lost… one of my fingers?!" he asked, looking down at the bloody red fabric.

It was safe to say that this caused for some confusion in the room. Eyebrows were lifted once more, and Kakashi's cover of pretending to read his book was blown. Sakura narrowed her eyes and leant away from Sasuke, holding up her hands. "Wait, wait a second. What's going on here?"

"It was a choice between losing two fingers or letting the enemy escape-"

"Two? So you decided to let the finger be cut off, just like that?" Naruto started, interrupting Sasuke.

"-_or,_" Sasuke pressed on, "letting the kunoichi escape," he repeated loudly to over-voice Naruto's protests, "with the kidnapped girl, knowing she would be tortured."

Naruto closed his mouth, unable to come up with a retort. "Fine, fine, just…" He lowered his eyes to the red cloth once more. "Please tell me Sakura-chan was able to re-attach them?" he almost pleaded. Sasuke suddenly avoided Naruto's eyes. "You didn't let her cut them off because you thought they would grow back?" Sasuke still didn't meet his dark eyes. "Do you know how painful it is to grow them back? And what if they don't?"

"Do you mean…?" Sakura asked again, her index fingers pointing to each team member before she switched, pointed to the other, her arms crossing.

Sasuke ignored her, and pushed Naruto away. "It will be fine, I'm the one feeling the pain right now, so you-"

"That's so beside the point!" Naruto told Sasuke.

"STOP!" Sakura yelled, standing up. Her hair obscured her eyes as she looked down, bur her balled fists indicated she was angry. "You two… somehow… switched bodies?"

Naruto bit his lip, and glanced over to Sasuke. "Uh…"

"Dobe," Sasuke muttered.

"What?" Naruto asked Sasuke indignantly, and grabbed his sweater roughly, pulling Sasuke up. "Teme, you are the one that-" Naruto stopped when a hand caught his ear painfully. "Itai, itai, Sakura-chan," he whined, letting go of Sasuke's orange shirt. A groan coming from Sasuke told that Sakura had his ear in a death grip as well.

"How… long…" Sakura asked through gritted teeth, sounding quite angry, "have you… been switched?"

Naruto moved his hands up in defence. "Sakura-chan, please, it was…" Naruto straightened up more until he was free of Sakura's grip. Rubbing his painful ear, Naruto pointed at Sasuke. "It was his fault! He got us in this situation!"

Sasuke huffed, crossing his arms before wincing and letting his injured hand lower into his lap. Sakura had let go of him too, and was staring down at him. "Tell me what happened! And how long ago?!" Sakura demanded, her hands resting on her hips.

Sasuke and Naruto exchanged looks. "You lost, you tell her," Naruto told Sasuke stubbornly.

"_I _lost? You were the one yelling I hurt _your_ body," Sasuke answered.

"You just cut off some of _my_ fingers, teme! Of course I'm worried! You are hurt!" Naruto almost shouted. Sasuke's voice was very impressive once it sounded angry.

Perhaps it was because of this that Sasuke did not immediately answer. He narrowed his eyes in a very Sasuke-like way and huffed. "Fine!" he said, and turned away from Naruto to Sakura, who was a bit startled by the sudden outbursts of the two, and confused seeing the wrong character in each person. "During the chuunin exams I was-"

"That was a month ago!" Sakura said shocked.

Sasuke continued as if he hadn't been interrupted. "-on an ANBU mission where a kunoichi cast her jutsu on me."

"Can you believe that the teme let himself get hit by-"

"Shut up, dobe," Sasuke said, not facing him. "It was a body switching jutsu," he went on.

"And we switched," Naruto finished simply.

Both Sakura and Kakashi seemed quite surprised by what they had just heard and seen; a Sasuke acting Naruto-ish, and a Naruto acting Sasuke-ish. It was a rather strange image, one not easily comprehended.

"Why haven't you two switched back yet?" Sakura asked.

"The kunoichi was killed, but her jutsu is still active," Sasuke said coolly, having regained the control over his emotions again. "Tsunade has been looking for ways to make us change back ever since."

"And all this time," Kakashi spoke, "the two of you have been pretending to be the other?" His one visible eye lazily scanned the two.

"Well, not at first, not on purpose," Naruto said, "but everybody just assumed… and then…" Naruto grinned foxily, a grin not belonging on Sasuke's face.

"Hontooni," Sakura said, shaking her head. "I can expect something like this from Naruto, but Sasuke-kun too?"

Sasuke did not answer, instead looking away from his female teammate.

It was quiet for some time in which Sakura was going over the past month, and what she had done and said to Sasuke and Naruto, whilst believing they were themselves.

_Sakura slowly rose to her feet, feeling a sharp pain in her side. She removed the kunai, and started healing herself while looking around to find Kakashi. He came walking towards her, putting his hitai-ate back over his red eye. _

"_You okay, sensei?" Sakura asked._

_Kakashi nodded. "I'm fine."_

"_Where's Naruto?" Sakura asked._

"_He followed them," Kakashi said, "but I lost sight of them after she put up that smoke screen."_

"_Naruto must have used senin-mode to follow her," Sakura said, and Kakashi nodded in agree. "I hope he gets to her in time. That girl looked very scared."_

_Together they started to follow the trail the ninjas had left behind. Some kunai here, a shuriken there, footprints, a missed jutsu; it was quite easy actually, until…_

_Sakura looked around. "I have no idea where they went next," Sakura said, scanning for any sign of a trail._

_Kakashi was hunching down to study a mark on the ground. "This isn't like Naruto," he said, referring to the absence of a trail. "It's like he used a different tactic from here on."_

_After a while they did not need to find a trail; there came the blond carrying a little black haired girl on his back, and dragging the unconscious kunoichi behind him._

"_Naruto! How is she?" Sakura asked, running up to them._

_Sakura wanted to get the girl from the blond's back, but the girl did not want to let go, and since she was upset about the whole situation that had just occurred, Sakura let her stay close to the blue-eyed ninja._

_It was only then, when she turned her eyes to meet the blue eyes of the blond that she noticed he looked a little pale. "Are you alright?" she asked worriedly._

_Sasuke dropped the body of the kunoichi to the ground, and lifted a bloodied hand. "Not really," he said. _

"_Oh my… Naruto, your fingers!" Sakura grabbed hold of the hand, and immediately started first aid on him. "Where did it happen… I mean, are they still intact?"_

_Kakashi came to stand beside them, and looked down at Sasuke. "You should sit down," he said calmly._

_As if he had been waiting for that, Sasuke fell to his knees. He had lost quite some blood, and even with rapid healing, blood loss wasn't a good thing. He had been dragging the kunoichi with his injured hand._

_Sasuke shook his head. "They're gone."_

_Sakura closed her eyes and continued the healing of Sasuke's hand. "Why didn't you-"_

"_Sakura," Sasuke suddenly said, sounding a bit off, "she's safe," was all he said before he closed his eyes, feeling dizzy._

_Sakura stared at the lowered fox ears, the dirty yellow spikes, his pale whiskered cheeks, the healing split lip and cuts adorning his body, to the arms of the little girl around his neck. For a split second the blond reminded her of Sasuke for some reason._

_Kakashi talked quietly to the little girl, and once Sakura finished all she could do at the moment for Sasuke right now and had bandaged his hand, the girl let go of Sasuke and slowly moved to Kakashi. The silver haired ninja lifted her up and put his hand on the back of her head. "We'll take you home now." She nodded, tears still streaming down her cheeks. _

_Kakashi looked over to his students, making sure Sakura had Naruto's back, before turning around and walking away. Sakura helped Sasuke stand up, and was glad to see some colour was coming back to his face._

"_Thanks, Sakura," he said, "chan," he added as if in an afterthought._

_Sakura just thought he was still a bit weak from the blood loss, so she didn't think anything of it at that time. Sasuke swayed a little, and Sakura steadied him, letting him lean on her shoulder._

_Sasuke was surprised that even when he put all of his weight on her, she had no trouble moving on, before he remembered Naruto was quite light weighted. After a while he started to walk on his own again, feeling the slight dizziness subside. _

_They brought the girl back home, which was kind of an emotional ordeal. Once they had said their goodbyes to the reunited family the three went looking for an inn to stay the night, no one felt like camping outside. Sakura dried her eyes while they walked down a stone road. "That was so…" she said softly. "I'm so happy everything turned out right for them."_

_Sasuke glanced at Sakura, and noticed she had been affected more than he had thought. "We… we could get something to drink?" he suggested, not minding the numbing effect of alcohol in his system; his hand still ached quite a bit._

_Sakura nodded, and they entered a small local bar. They sat down at the bar and ordered some sake. Sasuke soon would come to realize there would not be much of a numbing effect now that he was inside Naruto's body. Luckily they had only ordered one bottle of sake to share, so when Sakura finally finished her small saucer of sake, she looked around before she said, "I do feel somewhat better now." She smiled. _

"_I think I'm able to get some sleep now," Kakashi said, standing up. They entered the first inn they found, and got two rooms. Before Sasuke could follow Kakashi into their room, Sakura stopped him, and took him into her one person bedroom._

"_If you don't mind," she said after she closed the door behind them._

"_Uhm…" Sasuke said, actually not minding lying down on the soft comfortable bed waiting for him. _

_Sakura sat down on her bed and removed her gloves. Sasuke sat down next to her, waiting for her to start talking._

"_Does it still hurt?" Sakura asked, taking Sasuke's hand._

_Sasuke shrugged, but once the warm pink glow surrounded his missing fingers, a weak smile appeared on his face. "What did you want to talk about, Sakura-chan?" he asked. He doubted she just wanted to heal his hand._

_Sakura waited a while before she answered. "I don't know. I just didn't felt like going to sleep yet."_

"_Hm," Sasuke automatically answered, though feeling somewhat drowsy himself._

_Sakura turned her head to him, and frowned for a second. "Are you not afraid of what Sasuke-kun might say when he finds out you lost a couple of fingers?" she asked._

"_Oh," Sasuke said softly, imagining how he would have reacted if Naruto had come home like this. He would be concerned at first, which would be followed by anger that Naruto had let this happen, and then try to turn this into an excuse to- "Nah, only good things come from wounds," he said when he came to a conclusion._

_Sakura frowned at him. "What?" she asked stunned._

"_Oh, he'll be worried and angry at first," Sasuke quickly said. "He… he can be so possessive," he added. _

_Sakura seemed to agree as she grinned. Then suddenly she took his tail in her hand. She started to play with it. Sasuke's blue eyes moved over to her, asking her without words what she was doing. "You know, Naruto," she said with a sheepish smile. Sasuke looked into her bright green eyes. "We never-" _

"So…" she finally said softly, breaking the silence, "last week, when I told Sasuke-kun," she pointed to Naruto, "what Sai and I had done the night before…" She stared at Naruto intently. "I was talking to Naruto instead," she concluded. Kakashi's eyebrow rose.

Naruto sighed. "Oh believe me; that was really… _really_ uncomfortable." Red crept up his cheeks, as he looked away. "I had no idea you and Sasuke had talks like this…" He closed his eyes. "Or that you had nights like _that_," he muttered softly. Kakashi's eye narrowed.

"And thus, when I told Naruto…" Sakura went on, looking down at the sitting blond, "yesterday evening… that… and we…" Sakura's fisted hand started to shake while she closed her eyes in anger.

Sasuke was eerily quiet, and both Kakashi and Naruto curiously looked over to the two. "Told me what? I mean, what did you tell Sasuke? What did you do?" Naruto asked.

Before Naruto had time to react, Sakura had hit him on the head. "Itai, itai, Sakura-chan, what was that for?" he said, rubbing his head, pouting. "It was Sasuke, not me!" He pointed at Sasuke.

Sasuke turned his head to Naruto, opening his mouth to say something, but got an equally painful blow to the head. "Chh," he said, wincing.

"Baka-tachi!" Sakura folded her arms and stormed off, unable to even utter another word.

"What happened?" Naruto asked Sasuke, his curiosity had only grown after Sakura's actions. Kakashi looked down at the blond too, who kept eerily quiet. "Well?"

Sasuke suddenly stood up and walked over to Tsunade's office. He opened the wooden door with his good hand, and walked in without saying a word.

Naruto turned to Kakashi, who shrugged. "Ne, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said, stepping closer to his teacher, "what happened on this mission?"

Kakashi motioned for Naruto to follow him into Tsunade's office, so Naruto did. Once inside, Kakashi closed the door. Tsunade was staring at Sasuke's hand, but said nothing.

"The mission was a success," Kakashi said, "both of them." Then he told the Hokage (and Naruto) what had happened during their mission, and Sasuke added the part in which he had followed the kidnapped girl.

"And then he lost _my_ fingers," Naruto said, holding up Sasuke's hand to Tsunade. "Can you believe that?"

Sasuke jerked the hand out of Naruto's grasp, and held it protectively against his chest. "Stop moving it around," he said. This meant it still hurt.

Naruto sighed and looked down at the hand, but did not continue his tirade, though his jaw was clenched tight.

Tsunade finally dismissed them, and Naruto, who no longer felt like helping Tsunade, walked alongside Sasuke back to their home.

"Are you okay?" Naruto finally asked Sasuke, not liking the silence. Kakashi wasn't of much use either, since he was back to his reading once more; waiting for the duo to start the inevitable conversation that was about to come.

Sasuke turned his head to Naruto, glanced at Kakashi for a moment before nodding. "It's alright."

Naruto stopped Sasuke with a hand on the blond's shoulder. Kakashi continued his walk home, though quite slowly. "Sasuke, I know it hurts," Naruto said calmly. "And even though I don't like it…" His face was torn between disapproval, concern and forgiveness. "I understand why you let it happen," he finished. "_But that doesn't mean I approve it,_" he said a bit harsher, just to make sure Sasuke knew he hadn't quite forgiven him yet.

"Hn," was all Sasuke could say. In silence they continued home, Naruto not even looking at Sasuke until they were inside and the blond sat on the couch, peeling the bloodied cloth off his injured hand.

"Why didn't Sakura-chan bandage it?" Naruto asked, sitting down next to Sasuke.

"She did, but the wound opened again just before we arrived in the tower, because she wanted to hit me on the head, and I held my hand up in defence."

"Ah," Naruto said, looking at the injured hand. Then he gasped. When Sasuke had said he had lost two fingers, Naruto had automatically assumed it had been the smallest two; not the index and the middle finger. He cried softly at this, which made Sasuke look up.

"I know, it's really… _annoying_ to miss the index finger," Sasuke said, opening and closing the injured hand slowly.

"Annoying? _Annoying?_" Naruto asked, taking the hand in his own. "How will you-"

At that moment the doors went open, and Iruka came walking in via the garden. "Ah, hello, I thought I heard… Sasuke," he said sounding a tad confused.

Naruto glanced down at Sasuke, who narrowed his eyes and fell back into the couch. "I don't care about this bet anymore," he said.

Naruto pulled up his nose. "But it's fun to be you around Iruka-sensei," he said softly.

Iruka narrowed his eyes and craned his neck a little, trying to hear what the two were discussing. "Is everything alright?" he asked unsure.

"Great," Naruto answered. "Come, on, please?" he pleaded to Sasuke.

"No, I'm not doing it anymore," Sasuke said, shaking his head.

Even more confused now, Iruka started to think he better leave, and come back at a better time.

"I'll…" Naruto looked up to Iruka before whispering, "I'll make it up to you later. You can do whatever you want with me."

Sasuke shook his head. "It's just not as much fun anymore like this," he answered, gesturing to their bodies being reversed.

"Oh, it's not that bad," Naruto said.

"I never said it was bad; I just prefer being back to normal again." He frowned.

Naruto bit his lip. "You eh… I'll…" he glanced up to Iruka again before bending over to Sasuke's ear, holding his hand up, and started whispering.

Sasuke's expression turned from a frown to an emotionless look, into a small grin, back to no emotion, and then a satisfied smirk.

Iruka just stood there, feeling highly uncomfortable being left out of the conversation; though he wasn't sure if he wanted to be a part of it either. "I'll just… I'll just come back later," he said, pointing back to the door through which he had entered.

"No, wait just a second," Naruto said.

Iruka frowned at the raven haired man. If someone would want him out of the house at such a time, it would be Sasuke, but now he asked him to stay? Iruka slowly took a step closer to the door, but kept listening to the quiet conversation on the couch.

"Will you do it?" Naruto asked Sasuke, who seemed to be in thought.

It was then that Iruka noticed the wounded hand covered in dried up blood. "Oh my, what happened, Naruto?" he stepped toward Sasuke, and looked down at the wounded hand. "Did this happen on your last mission?"

Sasuke and Naruto exchanged looks, Naruto silently asking Sasuke to play along.

"Yes, yesterday," Sasuke said, though still not sure if he would do it, he just give an honest answer.

"Wow, that looks really… bad," Iruka said softly, sounding concerned. "You think… it will grow back?" He looked up worriedly into Sasuke's blue eyes. Sasuke could practically sense the concern flow over him from the brown haired man. He bit his lip. He had really not minded Naruto's plan up until now, pretending to be Naruto was… insightful, but now he didn't feel right lying anymore to this man that was like family to Naruto. The situation was completely different now that he was injured.

"Iruka," he said, and Naruto widened his eyes at the lack of 'sensei' in that word, "I'm not Naruto."

Iruka looked up confused. Then his expression changed to a frown, suspicion, and then his eyes narrowed. "It's not a funny joke, Naruto," he said.

"I'm Sasuke," Sasuke said, hoping he showed this on his face.

Iruka seemed to get a bit annoyed. "If this is to distract me from your injuries, which seem very serious, I don't-"

"I'm _not_ Naruto," Sasuke repeated, and hit Naruto in the side with his elbow. "Tell him." The look in his eyes told Naruto he better listen.

"Sure, sure," Naruto said, waving his hand. "As long as you know what you just threw away." Naruto turned to Iruka. "Iruka-sensei, it's true. I'm Naruto and that's the teme."

Sasuke cast a frown at Naruto.

"What do you mean?" Iruka said, looking from the one to the other confused. "This is not a Henge," he said. "It's not a funny joke," he added seriously.

Naruto shook his head. "I know, and I'm a little bit sorry that I didn't tell you sooner." Naruto glanced down at Sasuke before standing up. "At the chuunin exams we got… switched," he explained, pacing around the room. "Ever since then we have been in each other's bodies." He stopped moving around and faced Iruka. "We just pretended to be each other until now," he said, grinning.

And it was that foxy grin that convinced Iruka. "What?!" He turned his head from Sasuke to Naruto, or actually from Naruto to Sasuke, so now it appeared. "All this time…" He stood up. "This was _your_ idea, wasn't it?" he asked the real Naruto.

Naruto smiled guiltily. "Well, it maybe was my idea, but-"

Iruka caught his ear painfully. "Iruka-sensei!?" Naruto said in alarm. "You too?" he added softly.

"Naruto, I do not appreciate this," he said seriously. "You better come up with a good apology next time we meet." He let Naruto go and turned around. "You too, Sasuke," he added before walking off.

Now Naruto felt bad. "Wait, Iruka-sensei!" He followed the pony tailed man out of the house into the garden. He reached for his arm, and stopped the older man. "I'm really, really sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

Iruka had not turned to face him yet. "I hope you realise what you did."

Naruto lowered his head. "Well… I have to admit it was really fun," Iruka pulled at his arm, "_but_ I can see what you mean," Naruto finished.

Iruka turned around, not seeming to be all that angry as he had sounded. "You two were really convincing," he said, and then he added, "But…"

Naruto leaned in closer, "But?" he repeated. Sasuke appeared on the porch and sat down on it.

"But I already knew you two weren't yourselves."

Naruto stared at Iruka. "Huh?"

"I noticed a couple of weeks ago. 'You' just didn't seem quite… and then 'Sasuke', in other words you, came by and my suspicion was confirmed."

"What? Really? You knew… and still you got angry?"

"Of course I did! I had to ask Tsunade-sama what was going on between the two of you!"

Naruto swallowed guiltily. "Then why didn't you tell us?"

"I wanted to figure out how long you two would keep this up."

Naruto lowered his head. "That means…" he looked up smirking. "Sasuke lost!" he said, pointing to a surprised Sasuke.

"Excuse me?" Sasuke asked, not believing (just like Iruka) that Naruto was thinking about that.

Iruka slapped Naruto on the back of the head. "You both lost; I only realised when I saw you together."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "Wait, but if you knew we had switched, and still pretended not to know… that means you're even better at this than we are." Naruto leant in closer to his sensei. "And you are mad _at us_?"

Iruka narrowed his eyes. "Don't try to turn this around, Naruto."

Naruto pouted.

"You want something to drink?" Sasuke suddenly asked, standing up again.

Iruka looked over to Sasuke. "Tea please." He followed the blond into the house. Naruto, still pouting, grudgingly followed as well.

-x-

After Iruka had left, Sasuke and Naruto sat down on the porch in the warm spring sun. Naruto was bandaging Sasuke's injured hand carefully.

"Ne, Sasuke?" he asked, trying to make a knot in the bandage to keep it in place.

"Hn?" Sasuke answered.

"What did Sakura-chan tell you?" Naruto looked up at Sasuke without lifting his head. "She was kind of… put off."

Sasuke did not answer immediately, remembering their conversation.

"_You know, Naruto," Sakura said with a sheepish smile. Sasuke looked into her bright green eyes. "We never-" Sakura smiled awkwardly._

"_Never?" Sasuke asked._

"_We never decently finished that talk we had a while ago," Sakura said. "I feel like we still need to straighten things out about that conversation."_

"_What conversation?" Sasuke asked confused._

"_When you told me about that little argument you had with Sasuke-kun," Sakura clarified._

"_Argument?" Sasuke asked. He had a lot of arguments with Naruto, it was normal, so Sasuke had no idea what she was talking about. "Which one?" he asked._

_Sakura let go of the soft tail. "The one where you and Sasuke-kun had gone on some mission to get a ninja that had run away. The conversation we had once you returned home, and furiously came to me, telling me what an ass Sasuke-kun had been."_

_Sasuke narrowed his eyes, but hid his annoyance by pretending to think. "You mean that mission where…" he looked up at Sakura. He needed to keep pretending he was Naruto, "… the teme pushed me in the mud?"_

_Sakura nodded. "Though that was not really the issue, now was it?"_

_Sasuke kept quiet, and kept frowning, hoping Sakura would continue. He had no idea what Naruto would have been even more upset about. He couldn't remember anything else that could have angered the blond._

_Sakura rightly saw the confusion in the blue eyes and shook her head. "Seriously, Naruto, you already forgot? Then it couldn't have been that important after all."_

_Sasuke waited for her to say more before reacting. He only closed his eyes and grinned sheepishly. Sakura sighed. "You told me he…" Sakura then suddenly got a little red in the face, which surprised Sasuke, "that Sasuke-kun had been muttering my name in his sleep the next morning, before waking up… excited," she finished softly._

"_What?" Sasuke asked indignantly. Sakura frowned at his reaction. "I mean… why do you need to remind me?" His mind raced over what had happened on that mission. He had accidentally stepped on Naruto's tail, but Naruto had not minded. Later he had pushed Naruto into the mud on purpose before capturing the brown haired ninja. They had taken him to the ANBU, finishing their mission. They had slept outside, and all Sasuke remembered about that night was that it had been a cold one without Naruto warming him up, and being disappointed Naruto had still been mad when he woke up. Naruto had been distant enough to ignore Sasuke's situation, pretending not to notice Sasuke was hard. But he hadn't been dreaming before that, had he? And he absolutely couldn't think of a reason calling Sakura's name in his sleep._

_Sakura tilted her head a little. "Because you were on such a rampage I was hardly able to bring in a word to calm you down."_

_Sasuke was surprised Naruto had been keeping this from him, while apparently being this upset about it. "Well then," Sasuke said, folding his arms, "what did you want to say about it then?"_

_Sakura turned to Naruto. "I'm sure you misunderstood."_

"_Of course," Sasuke said_

"_I mean," Sakura continued, "the two things couldn't have been connected at all, though I must admit I would be highly flattered if-"_

"_What?" Sasuke asked sharply._

_Sakura waved her hand. "Calm down Naruto, you know I love Sai. I'm all over Sasuke-kun, but…" she giggled which made Sasuke narrow his eyes. "Well, I can't deny that he will always have… a special place in my heart, you know that." _

"_So what did you want to say?" Sasuke pressed on, not feeling like having this conversation with Sakura at all._

"_Ah, right," Sakura said. "Don't be mad at Sasuke-kun for it, and I'm not defending him," she added. "I'm just saying… we all sometimes have fantasies about… other people…" She turned her eyes away._

"_What?" Sasuke asked for a third time that evening._

_Sakura waved her hands defensively. "I'm just saying we sometimes wonder about things we would like to have-"_

"_Sasuke doesn't want-" Sasuke started, feeling like he needed to straighten something out._

"_-or don't have," Sakura continued stubbornly, "even though we don't necessarily really wish for it. We are just curious, that's all," she finished._

"_What do you mean by that?" Sasuke asked her. And then his eyes widened in suspicion. "Wait, you mean… You're not going to tell me you-"_

"_No," Sakura said, sounding quite unconvincing._

_Sasuke stared at her with an open mouth. All the conversations he had had with her about their sex lives, and now she was telling him, though she thought he was Naruto… "You dream about…?" he slowly asked._

_Sakura looked away guiltily. "Not anymore," she said softly._

"_Not anymore?" Sasuke repeated._

"_No, honestly," Sakura said, turning back to Sasuke. "I swear I don't dream about Sasuke-kun anymore," she told Naruto truthfully. "At least not in that way," she added softly._

_Sasuke felt his ear twitch. "You… used to get off…" his voice, Naruto's voice, drifted off in the air eerily._

_Sakura looked up with fear in her eyes. "Let's go to bed," she said abruptly and stood up. "I can see you're tired, and your hand can still use some healing." She pushed the blond off her bed and out of her room, all with a creepy fake smile on her face. It reminded Sasuke somewhat of Sai. "Night," she said, and closed the door behind him._

_Sasuke stood in front of the door for a while, as if expecting it would open again. He was in fact in thought about what Sakura had just told him. He could see she would not ever have told him this if she had known he had not been Naruto but Sasuke._

_Slowly he turned around and walked to his own bedroom, finding Kakashi fast asleep in the bed opposite of his own._

Sasuke looked up into dark eyes, looking curiously at him in anticipation of his answer. He wondered for a moment what to tell Naruto. "It was confidential," he finally said.

"Eh?!" Naruto whined. "Confidential? Between her and me! She thought she was telling _me_!" Naruto pointed out.

"I was you at that time," Sasuke told Naruto simply.

"You were not. You were pretending to be me," Naruto retorted.

"But it's better if it stayed between the two of us," Sasuke said.

"No, you have to tell me, it was meant for me," Naruto whined. He shuffled closer against Sasuke, holding his injured hand between them. "Please? For me?"

Sasuke blinked before turning his head away. "Apparently you have been mad at me, coming storming furiously into Sakura's house."

Naruto shrugged. "Ah, that's nothing. It happens occasionally. Sometimes you really can be quite a di-"

"But," Sasuke said loudly, not appreciating the insult, "you never told me about it."

Naruto shrugged. "I get angry at you all the time," he said, waving it off like it was nothing, "and sometimes I get a bit pissed off, and need to steam off a little at Sakura's. I usually don't even remember what I was angry about the very next day."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Naruto's simplicity. If only he could let go of things like that sometimes…

"So, you will need to be more specific," Naruto said. "What was I angry about?"

Sasuke kept silent for quite a while, not feeling like sharing his entire conversation he'd had with Sakura with his boyfriend. "Apparently… you heard me call Sakura's name in my sleep?" he finally asked. He looked up to Naruto.

"I did?" Naruto asked, frowning. "Like I care," he said, sounding indifferently.

Sasuke stared blankly at the now tall raven. "Really?" he asked. "You don't even remember?"

"Okay, fine, go on," Naruto said impatiently. "What else? What happened?"

"It was on that mission where I pushed you in the mud," Sasuke said.

Naruto gasped. "I knew it!" He turned at Sasuke and shoved him aside easily. "I knew you had pushed me!"

Sasuke shook his head. "That's beside the point, dobe" he said.

Naruto frowned. "Hmpf, sure, sure." He folded his arms. "Yeah, I remember that day," he said.

"So?" Sasuke asked. "You remember being mad at me?"

Naruto nodded. "You pushed me into the mud, of course I was angry."

"And about the muttering?" Naruto seemed to think. "I woke up with an erection," Sasuke continued.

Naruto shook his head. "I really can't remember," he said. He turned to Sasuke, "and I usually don't forget about those," he smirked.

Sasuke shook his head. If the usuratonkachi couldn't remember that, then he would not need to know about anything else Sakura and Sasuke had talked about. "Right," Sasuke answered.

-xXx-

Naruto closed the door behind him, and removed the wet coat from his cold form. The dripping cloth was thrown aside, along with his sandals, and he walked into the living room. There he found Sasuke reading a book. His right hand was wrapped in a white bandage.

"Akira-kun already asleep?" Naruto asked, and walked over to Sasuke.

However, before he could touch Sasuke the now blond had looked up and noticed his wet form. "Stop." Naruto immediately stopped in his tracks. "Go change, I don't want you to catch a cold… to have my body get sick."

"You're one to talk," Naruto muttered, narrowing his eyes. Then he held up his hands. "I forgot how quickly you get ill…" He stuck out his tongue to tease Sasuke further.

"Not everyone has special healing powers," Sasuke said seriously, looking back at his book. Naruto automatically looked down at the bandage; the missing fingers had already grown back until the first joint.

Naruto shrugged and turned around. "You're not coming to see me get changed?" Naruto asked.

"Why should I? It's my body…"

Naruto considered this for a moment before agreeing. "Right." He quickly went up the stairs, got changed and went back downstairs.

He sat down on the couch beside Sasuke.

"How was your shogi game with Shikamaru?" Sasuke asked, not looking away from his reading.

"I almost won, I tell you," Naruto said, "If only a bit more of luck was involved in the game." He rubbed the back of his head and squinted his eyes, grinning sheepishly.

"You want some tea?" Sasuke asked.

"Hn," Naruto nodded. Next he started telling what had happened in their game.

Sasuke got up and went to the kitchen to get some tea. He could still hear Naruto talk as clearly as when he was sitting next to him. Strangely he had become quite accustomed to the new ears these past couple of weeks. It made up a little bit for his (much) missed Sharingan. He had no idea that it would do so much to him to not be able to use it. Not necessarily because he needed it so much, but more because he was so used to it. At every moment, at any time something happened, he could activate them. And now he couldn't… he didn't have them. It felt like he had lost a bit of his identity with it (aside from his whole body).

He picked up the two steaming glasses and walked into the living room where Naruto was still talking. Even though he was Naruto, in Sasuke's body he sounded slightly less enthusiastic then he usually would. A bit less cheery, and a bit more down-to-earth actually.

Sasuke put down the glasses, and sat down next to Naruto.

"Yeah, and then I walked into Tsunade and she told m-" Naruto suddenly stopped, staring at Sasuke, who looked up with raised eyebrows.

"What?" he asked.

"You… haven't been eating enough meat, have you?" Naruto asked. "You know you should take better care of my body!"

Sasuke frowned. "Hn."

Naruto leant over to Sasuke before placing his hands on both sides of Sasuke's face. His thumbs moved over the elongated canines in the corners of Sasuke's mouth. "You really don't want to lose your mind to the Kyuubi," he said seriously.

Sasuke pushed Naruto's hands away, but then Naruto grabbed his right hand, and looked at the closed wound of the missing fingers. "Really," Naruto said.

Sasuke got the point and left to get some food. After Sasuke had finished his plate Naruto shuffled closer to him, and put his arm around Sasuke's shoulders. "We'll be back to normal soon. Tsunade told me she figured out how."

Sasuke looked up. "She did?"

Naruto nodded. "Yup, she told me just now."

Sasuke immediately stood up. "What are we waiting for then?" Sasuke looked down to Naruto, to his own onyx eyes, and wondered why he wasn't coming.

Naruto shyly looked away. "I just thought about… you know… We will never be in this situation again, not really."

Sasuke thought he knew where this was heading, and did not object to the idea at all. "So…?" he asked, turning his body to Naruto, narrowing his eyes, though there was a smirk on his face.

"Well… you know… I told Tsunade will be at her office first thing in the morning."

Sasuke's smirk widened, it had a very fox-like quality. He pulled Naruto into a standing position. "What were you planning… to fill the evening with?" he said slowly, taking a step closer to Naruto.

Naruto also took a step closer to Sasuke. "If you feel like it…" he said, "I just thought we could…"

"Could?" Sasuke asked. They were now face to face. Sasuke went to stand on his toes, closing the last few centimetres.

"Could head to our bedroom… maybe _after…_"

Sasuke smirked, kissed Naruto a few times and then asked, "I think I like that… _After_, you say?"

Naruto smiled, felt how Sasuke kissed his neck. "_After_ we first have sex in the living room." His hands gripped Sasuke tightly around the waist. A soft purring was the answer he was glad to hear. "This will be the last time we role-play," he spoke softly in one of the fluffy fox ears near to his nose. The response was a hand sliding under his shirt down his pants.

-x-

The next morning Sasuke and Naruto stood in front of Tsunade's desk. Naruto grinned like Sasuke never had before. "So, what are we waiting for?" he asked, rubbing his hands together.

"Sakura and Kakashi," Tsunade answered.

"Huh, why?" Naruto asked, seeing no reason for those two to be here.

"Because I asked them, and they also wanted to be here."

Sasuke frowned. "Why?"

"Because I need them," she said.

And that probably was her final word on the matter. "And what will be happening then?" Naruto asked.

At that moment the door opened and Sakura entered, followed by their sensei. "Ah, you two are already here," Sakura said.

"Yes, and baa-chan…" Naruto shifted his eyes to Tsunade for a moment, "_Tsunade_ was just about to tell us what will happen." He turned to the Hokage. "Ne?"

Tsunade nodded. She shifted some papers on her desk from one corner to the next. Then she got out a scroll, unrolled it, read something, and rolled it up again before putting it away. Naruto's eyes narrowed the longer it took for Tsunade to answer. "Ne… Tsunade?" he asked again.

Tsunade finally looked up. "Okay, well," she said, "You two need to…" she paused. "To eh…"

"To…?" Sasuke asked.

"To be intimate?" Naruto answered, "We already know _that_ doesn't work."

Everyone stared at Naruto until he realised what he had said, and clasped his hand over his mouth, turning red.

Sakura grinned at Kakashi, from whom some sort of chuckle had sounded from behind his mask. "Really?" she asked the two. "You thought that might make you change back?"

Neither answered, nor looked at each other.

"I think they would have kept switching constantly if that had been true," Kakashi joked.

Naruto turned even redder in the face, and even Sasuke blushed slightly. "We eh… what do we… have to do?" Naruto asked softly, this time he wouldn't speak before his turn.

Tsunade smirked. "There are actually a couple of things you have to do," she said. "A… a sort of ceremony, if you will."

"Ceremony?" Sasuke asked, and he narrowed his eyes. "What kind of ceremony?"

"Oh, well, there are three steps," Tsunade said. "It might sound a bit… a bit weird, but it's the only way."

"What baa-chan? Just tell us," Naruto said, getting irritated.

Tsunade closed her eyes. "First, you will have to do a special tea ceremony."

Sasuke and Naruto stared at her. "Excuse me? And how is that going to change us back?" Naruto asked, frowning.

"Each step has a purpose. First the two souls need to be connected, _by doing this ceremony of drinking tea, yes_," she added when Naruto opened his mouth once more. "I won't explain the details to you because it will be a waste of my time."

"What?" Naruto asked, raising a fist, but Sasuke calmed him down by holding him back, grabbing his white shirt.

Tsunade smirked and stood up. "Come with me."

The four shinobi followed their Hokage to a small square room somewhere in the tower. The room looked old, with brown-beige coloured walls and dark brown pillars and beams. One wall was opened up, letting daylight in the room through a translucent material that was held into place by a dark wooden frame work. In one wall was made a niche; the tokonoma. Against the back wall of this alcove hung a large scroll with an inked Japanese inscription. A small table was placed in the middle of the room, and three cushions lay around it, one on each side of the square table.

"There are some traditional kimonos there," she pointed to the clothes beside the cushions. "You will have to put those on."

Naruto and Sasuke walked over to the clothing, and started to undress. Naruto picked up a blue kimono, and put it on like a vest. A navy blue hakama, pants, followed. Sasuke's kimono was white, and he had a deep brown hakama. Naruto finally helped Sasuke secure his obi as he had some difficulty doing so with his partly missing fingers.

Tsunade motioned for them to take place and thus Sasuke and Naruto sat down opposite each other. Tsunade sat down at the head of the table. Kakashi and Sakura took a seat to the side, against the wall.

"Let me explain what you will need to do, because this will not be a normal tea ceremony." Tsunade handed both a stone cup. "I will pour each a cup of green tea, and you will need to drink from each other's cup."

Naruto and Sasuke stared at her. "Seriously?" Naruto asked, his eyes narrowed to thin lines. "That's just stupid."

Tsunade shrugged. "Fine, then stay in each other's bodies," she said, preparing to stand up.

"No, wait," Sasuke said. He then turned to Naruto. "Just do as she says, you can whine later."

"I don't whine, it's just…"

"I don't care," Sasuke told him sternly. Naruto pouted, but carefully picked up his cup, making sure his wide sleeve was not in the way. He held the grey clay cup up to Tsunade, waiting for her to prepare the tea according to custom, and finally fill his cup with the green tea. Tsunade did so for the both of them.

After she had put the teapot down, she motioned for them to hold up their cups. "This part of the ceremony is supposed to distance your soul of the body. While drinking the tea you must realise this. Tea calms the mind, and gives you time to think things over." She waited for both to nod. "Hold up your cups in your right hand," she told them and they did so as if toasting. "Now, entwine your arms." Hesitantly the two entangled their arms until their own cups could reach to their own mouth.

"You said we would-"

"Shh," Tsunade shushed Naruto, "calm your mind. It must connect to Sasuke's soul so it will be easier to find its way back." Naruto immediately kept quiet, though he could get completely rid of the frown on his face; both out of annoyance and confusion about the instruction. However was he supposed to connect to Sasuke's soul?!

Tsunade told them to wait till the tea was the right temperature to drink, and in the meantime think things over, what they were here for and what was about to happen. After a while Naruto and Sasuke looked into each other's eyes and started to drink their tea at the same time, taking careful sips. Tsunade raised her head a little when she noticed the two could work so close in unison.

"Don't drink everything, let a bit remain in the cup, not just the drab, and then give it to the other to finish," Tsunade said.

Naruto and Sasuke did so, exchanging cups and finishing it; though Naruto still made a slightly disapproving face all the while. Finally they put their cups down on the table with a smooth movement while their other hand kept the sleeve from touching the surface. Tsunade nodded and finished the ceremony. She stood up and mentioned for the two to follow.

"Very well done," she said and turned to Naruto. "That wasn't so bad after all, now was it?" she asked. Naruto did not answer; afraid his temper might break the connection with Sasuke's soul or something.

Sakura came to walk beside Naruto and Sasuke while they followed Tsunade to yet another location in the Hokage tower. "You two look quite handsome," she said. "You should wear kimono more often." She smiled happily.

They came to two sliding doors. Tsunade soundlessly slid open one door, and gestured to the others to enter the room. Naruto was quite surprised to find a huge room, almost like a dojo. Again the walls had the same sand-colour, but in this room were a lot more translucent walls than in the small tearoom. The room was higher too, two stories probably, and big wooden columns set a rhythm around the room along with the many lines in the window frames and wall decorations. The tatami mats lay in length of the room, making it look even deeper than it actually was. The beams in the ceiling showed craftsmanship as their handmade joints connected column to beam. Naruto and Sasuke looked up in awe at the fine Japanese architecture of the room.

"You two will do a kendo match next," Tsunade said, standing in the middle of the room.

"Kendo?" Naruto said. "I've never done that before."

"You learned kenjutsu," Tsunade said, Naruto nodded, "then this will just be a fight with a katana for you."

Naruto frowned as yet again his stupidity was pointed out. This time he did not react to her words with his own, but kept wisely quiet.

"The art of the sword will distance your soul from your body. It has already made a connection to the other soul, now it will need to be pulled out of the body. The fighting will help loosen the bond your body and soul have made in these past weeks."

Naruto and Sasuke nodded. Then Tsunade held up two haori, jackets. "It has your clan's symbols on them," she told the two as she handed Naruto a deep purple one with the Uchiha fan on the sleeves and back, and Sasuke a dark green one with the Uzumaki symbol. "To help you disconnect," she said. They each put on the jacket over their other clothing.

Next, Sakura handed Naruto Sasuke's katana in its navy blue scabbard; a black line on each side ran over the entire length, which continued on to the hilt without an interruption of a guard. Naruto let the familiar katana rest in both hands, getting accustomed to its weight. The smooth surface glided under his fingers as he moved his hand over the dangerous weapon. He pulled the katana a little out of its scabbard, seeing Sasuke's slightly blurred reflection in the shiny silver surface. He put it back inside, and slipped the scabbard through his obi belt.

When he looked up he saw Sasuke handling a katana similar to what the ANBU used, handed to him by Kakashi. It had a dark handle with dark grey, almost black wrapping and purplish grey diamond decoration. This katana also had no guard, but the decoration of the handle and the scabbard differed. The scabbard was smooth, and its dark surface reflected the light as daylight shone on it. Sasuke had also placed the scabbard in his obi. When Sasuke pulled the katana out of its scabbard entirely the metal was lighter of colour than his own katana resting in Naruto's belt.

Sasuke swayed the blade around before taking a traditional kendo stance; one foot placed before the other, and the blade held in two hands directed towards Naruto. Naruto pulled Sasuke's beloved katana out of its sheathe, and mirrored Sasuke's stance.

"The fight will end when one gets the other onto the floor or can show he is able to make a critical blow," Tsunade explained. "And no use of ninjutsu," she added with a look at Naruto, who saw no reason for her to do that. She then raised her hand only to let it drop again. Immediately as Tsunade's hand lowered, Sasuke took a couple of steps forward and raised his katana to attack.

For a while all Naruto was able to do was block Sasuke's strikes. He had almost activated the Sharingan, but thought this would probably not distance his soul from Sasuke's body if he used it to his advantage. After a while Naruto caught up with Sasuke's pace and was able to do more than just defend. He swung his sword close to Sasuke's left fox ear, which twitched at the near contact. Surprised at his own action, and at the same time shocked that he might have cut off his _own_ fox ear, Naruto was cut in the cheek by Sasuke.

This woke Naruto up from his shock, and he frowned before he took a couple of steps forward to Sasuke, fending off the unfamiliar katana. His katana grazed Sasuke's sleeve; Sasuke's katana scraped Naruto's upper arm. Naruto made a cut in Sasuke's ear; Sasuke managed to cut Naruto's other cheek. Naruto lashed out to Sasuke, who blocked it, only to return the favour and be countered by Naruto.

This lasted for quite a while, both were panting from the exercise, but Sasuke showed the upper hand. He charged forward, sure this would be the final blow. Naruto on the other hand did not feel like losing to Sasuke, and braced himself for the coming attack; sure he could overthrow Sasuke in some way.

Their katanas met, a loud clink of metal was heard as both pushed their weight into the game. This time Naruto had the advantage, currently being both taller and heavier than Sasuke. Naruto slowly pushed both katanas away toward Sasuke, but Sasuke was still better at the technique, and thus threw off Naruto at the same moment Naruto had put all of his weight in to push Sasuke off. Both were sent back by the force of their blows. Sasuke was send into the wall, and Naruto hit a column painfully hard; both slid down to the floor.

Tsunade held up her hands. "That's enough, I'll call this a draw." Sakura and Kakashi helped the two sweating shinobi stand up.

"That was great," Sakura commented on their fight, looking over to Kakashi, who nodded in agree.

"Quite so," he said.

"Please tell me the next part is easy," Naruto panted, leaning on his own knees to catch his breath. Sasuke, in a similar position, resting against the wall, looked up to Tsunade as well.

"It is, in a way," she answered. "We will stay in this room," she informed them when Naruto was about to turn to the sliding doors.

"Oh," he said. "Then… what _is_ the next part exactly?"

Tsunade smiled. "A traditional-" she had not even finished her sentence when Naruto sighed and lowered his head, groaning a 'no', "Japanese dance," she finished.

Sasuke stared at her through Naruto's blue eyes. "No," he said, shaking his head. "No, I'm not going to-"

"You will, just like Naruto will." Tsunade tilted her head. "Now that you have distanced your soul from your body, it will need to be able to latch onto your own body. The dance movements will help guide the soul to familiar movements, luring it back to its own body."

Naruto blinked. "So, after this," he said, straightening up, "we will go back to our own bodies?"

Tsunade nodded. "A hand sign on my part will keep it in place."

Naruto balled a fist. "Alright then; I don't care anymore, let's do this."

Sasuke, seemingly less enthusiastic than Naruto, hesitantly stepped forward to Tsunade. "What kind of dance?" he asked, knowing there were many styles and techniques. _Let it be a sword dance,_ he thought.

Tsunade held up two folding fans. "A fan dance," she said. Sasuke audibly sighed, lowering his head.

"So… what do we do? I never dance," Naruto confessed. "I have no idea what to do."

"Luckily," Tsunade said, handing Naruto a bright red and white fan, "the scroll does not say precisely how, so you can dance according to your own style." She handed Sasuke an orange and black fan. "So, why don't you pretend to have a sword in your hand, and move around a little more gracefully."

Naruto frowned, not seeing how he could do that. He looked over to Sasuke. "And when will we…"

"You will change back once your rhythm is similar enough for your souls to switch bodies."

Naruto shook his head. "This might take ages."

"Now, now, Naruto, don't be so negative," Kakashi said. He and Sakura stood beside Tsunade at this time.

"Fine, come on, where's the music," he said taking a stance in the middle of the room. Sasuke slowly walked up to him, and took a similar stance 3 meters away from Naruto, the red tail hanging against his wide pants.

They started off rather awkwardly, once the music started; moving around the room uncoordinated. Naruto made a lot of unnecessary movements with his fan, while Sasuke could move a bit more and a little faster. It was quite funny to see them dart around. It took quite a while before they stared to make movements even remotely recognizable as dance moves.

Sakura couldn't help herself when she saw Naruto hit Sasuke with his red fan, and started to laugh loudly. Naruto apologized to Sasuke, who rubbed his cheek, before sending Sakura an annoyed look. "You're _not_ helping," he told her, but it seemed a waste of words, because Sakura had doubled over from laughter.

The two continued their dance for only a couple of paces, when Sasuke stopped Naruto. "Sakura," he called out to her, "please tell us what's going on." Sakura had slid down the wall, and even Tsunade was laughing now. Kakashi seemed close to doing the same.

"Why do I feel like…" Naruto said.

"… We have been tricked?" Sasuke finished.

"Yeah."

The two stared at the laughing trio, trying very hard to keep their growing anger under control. Finally Tsunade was able to speak between laughs. "I'm sorry, we just couldn't help it. I saw an opportunity to get back at you, and I took it."

"So, you mean," Naruto said, his face falling, "all of this was…"

"Fake, yes Naruto," Tsunade said. "We made it up," she motioned to the other two and herself.

"And all the stuff about connecting and distancing souls and bodies…?" Naruto asked through gritted teeth.

Tsunade shook her head. "I just made it up on the spot," she said laughing.

"Did you even find a way to get us back at all?" Sasuke asked annoyed, shaking slightly.

"Of course Tsunade-sama did," Sakura said, finally able to do more than just laugh. "It wouldn't have been a good joke if we didn't."

"Then… what is it?" Naruto asked.

"You should have seen you dance," Sakura said giggling.

"I personally favoured the tea drinking," Kakashi said.

"The looks on their faces," Tsunade agreed, shaking her head.

They all laughed again, and this time Naruto couldn't help but laugh along. "Your dancing did look more like an old turtle trying to find a spot to die," Naruto told Sasuke, who did not appreciate this.

"You're one to talk," he said.

After another couple of minutes of joyful laughter, and a sulking Sasuke, Tsunade stepped forward and placed her hands on Sasuke's and Naruto's shoulders. "Let's get you two back to normal, after you've changed back to your own clothing."

A little later Naruto and Sasuke once again stood in front of Tsunade's desk, changed back to their normal clothes. Naruto shook his head, smiling. "You really got us," he said. "But tell me… how long ago did you find out how to change us back?"

Tsunade finally looked like she felt somewhat guilty. "Two weeks ago, but I had no idea yet how to get back at you, and the two of you were having too much fun pretending to be the other. Everything was okay, so I waited for the right time."

Sasuke and Naruto exchanged looks. "Fine, but can we switch back now, _for real_?" Sasuke asked.

Tsunade mentioned for the two to sit down on the floor, and knelt down in front of them. Sakura and Kakashi again stood to the side, not wanting to miss the actual switching.

"This will be a bit disorientating, and it can last for a couple of days, but it will pass over," she told them.

"It can't be much worse than dancing though," Naruto joked, earning some sniggers.

"Okay, ready?" Tsunade asked.

"Hai," the two said in unison.

Tsunade made a whole bunch of hand signs so rapidly that hardly half could be seen by a normal eye. She finally stopped, her hands held together in an unfamiliar sign and shouted, "Kai!". She placed a fingertip on either forehead of the two men in front of her. It felt like a small shock went through her fingers, crossing from one body to the other, but there was no change visible.

Naruto and Sasuke, however, felt quite differently. At one moment they were sitting, facing Tsunade, and the next the earth disappeared under their feet. A strange falling -or maybe it was a pulling motion- was felt, but in the darkness and without any feeling of gravity, they could not be sure. Before they could get any idea of what was happening it was gone. It was as if they had landed, rather roughly.

Sasuke closed his eyes, feeling dizzy and unstable. He placed his hands on the floor to make sure the room was stationary instead of feeling like being inside a washing machine. Naruto bent over, and placed his head on the floor, holding it in his hands.

"Did it work?" Sakura asked Kakashi silently.

Tsunade moved her hands over the two men, making sure they were physically alright, and then told them to take it easy. Sakura and Kakashi waited, just like Tsunade, until one of the two would show a sign of being himself again.

Naruto straightened up first. "I GOT MY TAIL BACK!" he yelled, hugging the soft furry extension happily.

Sakura startled at the sudden loudness. "Really? That's your first reaction?" she asked, having her question answered if the jutsu had worked.

"You have no idea how great it is to have a tail," Naruto went on, stroking the red fur. "It was like losing an arm all over again."

Sasuke sat up too, and brought his hand up to the bridge of his nose. "Aren't you… disorientated?" Sasuke asked.

"I'm too happy right now," was Naruto's answer.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "I get it. It was… nice having a tail, but this reaction is just…" He closed his eyes for a moment.

Naruto turned his head to Sasuke, and this obviously triggered some disorientation in him as well. He put his hand quickly on the floor to steady himself, and winced. "It's not overreacting; it's appropriate."

"Glad that the two of you are back to normal," Kakashi said.

"As far as normal goes between those two," Tsunade added, still observing the two closely.

Then Sasuke stood up, and swayed. He reached for the wall to steady himself. His other hand went to his head.

"Ho, take it easy," Tsunade said, "you just changed bodies, you should take it slow. Last time you switched was different, then you had to adjust to a new body, but you two have been switched for quite a long time; you have to get used to your own body again."

Feeling dizzy, Sasuke stayed leaning against the wall, but did not want to sit down again. Stubbornly he ignored Tsunade when she tried to help him sit.

Naruto just let himself fall back, and closed his eyes as he lay on the floor. "I know why he needs to stand up," he said.

Sasuke turned to look at -his finally blond again- Naruto. "Why?" Tsunade asked.

"He wants to look down on people again," Naruto grinned.

Eyes turned to look at Sasuke for confirmation, which they got in the lack of answer he gave.

Naruto and Sasuke stayed stationary for a while, and Sakura and Kakashi went home now they knew for sure they would be talking to the real Sasuke and Naruto again.

"Glad you had a good day," Naruto shouted after them, shaking his head. "Really, like they went to the theatre or something." He quickly stopped moving his head, and leant back against the wall he had moved closer to.

"You two seem alright," Tsunade said, taking place behind her desk again. "Once you've sobered up a little you can go home."

It took a full hour before they could both stand and walk without swaying around like drunken men. Naruto and Sasuke thanked Tsunade (a little grudgingly in Sasuke's case) for changing them back, before they finally headed back home.

Not feeling quite alright yet, they were nevertheless happy to be back into their own bodies again. Strolling slowly down to their house, while trying to get used to their own bodies, the two talked things over.

"I must admit it was nice being tall," Naruto said.

Sasuke nodded. "You really are short."

"Am not, I'm average height," Naruto retorted, amazed Sasuke still dared to tell him he was short. "Next to you everyone is dwarfish," he muttered. "I'm glad to have my own eyes again though," he added. "I rather have good hearing and a tail than the Sharingan; as cool as it was."

Sasuke shook his head shortly. "No, the eyes are better, but you're right about having a tail."

Naruto grinned. They were just walking down the market when Naruto's ears twitched. He turned to Sasuke, stopping him by grabbing his long sleeve.

"Wait a minute, Sasuke," Naruto said, and he dashed away into the opposite direction. Sasuke slowly turned around, and saw Naruto's team standing in front of a small shop selling ninja tools.

"Hello~," Naruto greeted his team joyfully.

The trio looked around, frowning slightly. "Eh…" Eri said, looking up into Naruto's happy and smiling face. "Sensei?" she asked to be safe.

Naruto grinned some more. Ryomaru's eyes widened. "Y-you're back to normal!" he said. Naruto ruffled his short green hair.

"Correct. I'll be training you guys again. I know it will be a disappointment compared to Sasu-"

"YES!" Eri yelled, throwing a fist in the air. Naruto raised his eyebrows in surprise. Ryomaru sighed in relief and smiled, and even Kenji did not seem all that upset. "Finally we have our own sensei back," Eri said, and she hugged a still slightly stunned Naruto. "Normal training again, short explanations, and hard work without needing to be all too precise."

Naruto smiled. "Well, thanks," he said, really feeling happy to hear this.

"Naruto-sensei knows us best," Ryomaru said, a small smile showing.

All three looked around to Kenji, who stood quite still, obviously not sure what to say. Naruto grinned when he saw how Kenji wanted to agree with his team, but his pride and idolisation of Sasuke was clearly in the way.

"We… missed you," he finally said very, very softly, not looking at any of them. He crossed his arms.

Naruto spread his arms and gathered his three students. "Yeah, I missed training you guys too," he said.

"When did you switch back?" Eri asked after Naruto had let them go.

"Just now, we're on our way home." Naruto waved his hand to Sasuke, who stood looking at them from afar. He looked up a little when he saw Naruto motion at him.

Eri waved at Sasuke, who grudgingly returned the gesture very shortly before turning his head aside. Eri turned to look at Naruto and they both grinned. "I think we'll be going again then, the switching thing is a bit… weird."

"Okay. Bye sensei," Ryomaru said.

"See you again at the training field." Naruto walked back to Sasuke, who turned his head down to look at the approaching blond.

"What did they say?" he asked.

"They were glad we were back to normal," he said. "They want me to tell you they enjoyed your training sessions though." They might not have actually said this, but Naruto felt this was true though.

Sasuke nodded and turned away. Naruto inclined his head a little, and saw Sasuke's expression softening. He smiled and took Sasuke's hand in his. Sasuke looked down at the joined hands, feeling the missing parts of Naruto's hand. "This feels much better, doesn't it?" Naruto asked. Sasuke smiled in response.

Naruto happily swished his tail behind his back as they walked on over the streets of Konoha back to their home. "It was fun though, being each other," Naruto said, unable to keep things to himself. He rested his head against Sasuke's shoulder.

"Hm… yes," Sasuke admitted.

"I knew you secretly liked it too," Naruto said. "I bet you always wondered what it would be like to be me."

"What makes you say that?" Sasuke asked.

"I wondered the same thing about you," Naruto said.

Sasuke could not say he had _always_ wondered what it would be like to be Naruto. No, the thought had not really ever crossed his mind. Of course he had wondered what it was like to have a tail and fox ears, but never seriously considered it. However, to satisfy Naruto he nodded. This earned him a big smile, which had been his goal.

The bright blue eyes shone brightly again, the smile was warm, the whisker marks fitted. Naruto was Naruto once more, and Sasuke was really happy to be able to see him again. He was so happy that he was not be able to express himself, but on the other hand a small feeling had started to grow ever since they had left the Hokage tower. He missed something. He missed this link with Naruto, knowing he was always close. It was strange, but being back in his own body felt… lonely.

Sasuke suddenly faltered, and Naruto looked up to see what was going on. "Sasuke? You feeling dizzy again?" He looked around at the familiar setting, a little bakery, a small square and a lonely oak tree, before looking back up into the deep mysterious onyx eyes.

Sasuke shook his head. "No, I was just…"

Naruto tilted his head, and looked up to Sasuke with slight concern on his face, but waited for Sasuke to make the next move.

It took a while, during which the two looked at each other, probably happy to be in their own bodies again and able to look at each other, when finally Sasuke took a couple of steps toward Naruto until he was so close he could place his hands on Naruto's shoulders, and thus he did so. Once his hands touched Naruto's shoulders a pleasant feeling he had missed for almost a month surged through his nerves. He knew he tightened his grip on Naruto's shoulders a bit too much, but he just couldn't help it. He would never let Naruto go again. It took quite some self-restraint to keep from pulling Naruto into a tight embrace before pressing his lips against the blond's. He looked down in those azure blue eyes that reflected the slightly clouded sky. He couldn't help but smile.

Naruto smiled back, liking the reaction he could see in Sasuke's eyes and body language. He waited patiently for Sasuke to kiss him, to hug him; waiting for his strong hands to move over his body, but nothing happened.

"Naruto," Sasuke said in such a soft voice, Naruto had to strain even his fox ears. "There's something… something important I want to…" Sasuke stopped and lowered his eyes.

At first Naruto waited for Sasuke to collect himself and find the right words, but Sasuke took quite a while to do so, which was unusual. "Important? What is it, Sasu?" Naruto asked.

A leaf fell from the oak tree and landed on Sasuke's shoulder, but the raven ignored it. He still seemed to struggle with words, and the grip on Naruto's shoulders tightened even more so.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked worriedly.

"I've been thinking about this for quite a while now," Sasuke continued suddenly, "and I really think it's a good idea." He looked up into Naruto's confused and frowning face. How he loved that whiskered face. Blond locks fell into Naruto's eyes, swaying in the wind ever so slightly. Slowly Naruto's eyebrows loosened up until the concern was off his face and instead was replaced by curiosity. All those times Sasuke had looked at those eyes in the mirror, it just hadn't been the same, they had lacked Naruto's soul which made them sparkle and look livelier than they already were. This was the final push Sasuke had needed.

"A chakra kizuna," he said.

Naruto stared at him. "A what now?" he asked blankly, his eyes squinting in his famous confused look.

"A chakra bond," Sasuke repeated. Naruto still seemed confused, so he continued. "It a sort of ritual in which two shinobi forge a bond made with their chakras. It's hardly ever done because the two shinobi make a pact that bonds them so strongly that sometimes they go crazy."

Naruto frowned at this. "Then why would you-?"

"Because it also has a lot of advantages; for example it makes the two stronger because they can use each other's chakra, they can go on longer, and they heal quicker."

Naruto nodded. "And why would you… suggest such a thing?" he asked quietly, not wanting to sound doubtingly.

To Naruto's surprise Sasuke smiled broadly. "Because I love you."

Naruto stared wide-eyed at the tall raven as he heard the simple explanation. "Because…" he repeated softly. He tilted his head. "Why?" Of course he wasn't asking Sasuke why he loved him, and Sasuke knew.

"It's a special bond, it will link us. With this whole… body switching I came to realise that we are not just how we appear on the outside; you are not defined by just your actions or words. It's the souls that makes us who we are."

"So… doesn't that mean you want our souls to be connected?" Naruto asked confused.

"No, don't you understand? They already are." This seemed to confuse Naruto even more so. "You must have felt it too; must have realised it," Sasuke went on. "While we had switched we could easily have drifted apart. That's what the whole idea of the jutsu is about, that the enemy switches places, gets confused and can't fight. Some people get mad after living inside another's body for too long a time; they can't handle the stress. Not only from being inside someone else's body, or the idea of being someone else, but also because of the body itself; it pushes unwanted souls out. Slowly it rejects the soul that does not fit inside the body, it starts corrupting it, and slowly that person will inevitably go crazy."

Naruto stared with wide eyes at Sasuke. "You knew this all along?"

"Of course," Sasuke said, "it's only obvious."

Naruto clearly didn't agree, but knew better than to point this out. "So, then why the chakra bond if our souls are already… eh… connected?"

"Because I want to be connected not only with your soul, but to your body as well," Sasuke said softly, as if almost afraid Naruto might laugh at him for saying something like this.

Naruto did not know how to answer at first; he just stared back at Sasuke. Connected in both body and mind? Was this really so important to Sasuke? Naruto lowered his eyes to Sasuke's collarbones. It was true that he had felt almost comfortable in Sasuke's body, and had gotten used to it rather easily, so he realised now. He had thought it was because he knew Sasuke so well, but could it be because of what Sasuke had just told him? Naruto had never really thought much about souls and stuff, it was not important; you couldn't see it or prove it was there, but obviously Sasuke knew more about it.

Slowly he brought his hands up and placed them on Sasuke's upper arms, feeling suddenly small again in his own body as Sasuke looked down upon him, waiting for an answer. He could feel the dark eyes follow every movement, every breath he took, and now knew how it was like for Sasuke to see all this.

A sudden urge to hug Sasuke fell upon him, to hold him close and nestle himself against that protective chest and the warmth it radiated towards him; to finally hear Sasuke's real heartbeat again. With immense restraint he kept himself from doing just that, because now was not yet the time; Sasuke needed an answer.

He lifted his head until he looked up onto Sasuke's beautiful pale face, framed by two dark locks of hair. His dark eyes, as mysterious as the universe, searched his. "I think…" Naruto slowly said, not sure yet what to answer. Sasuke shifted his hands on Naruto's shoulders, but did not let go. "I think this is very important to you," Naruto said.

"Yes, I-" Naruto stopped Sasuke by placing one of his hands over Sasuke's heart.

"I'm not _completely_ sure why, and to be honest, that doesn't matter to me." Sasuke frowned ever so slightly. "If it's important to you, then that is all the reason enough for me," he finished. The vague frown had gone in an instant.

"I want you to know," Sasuke said.

Naruto shook his head. "You don't have to explain, it's alright." His hand on Sasuke's chest gripped the white fabric. "In fact, I don't even want you to explain."

"Naruto," Sasuke said softly. He wanted to explain, he really wanted to. He wanted to tell Naruto that he was the world to him, meant more than anything to him, that he wanted to hold him close, kiss him, feel him, connect to him, wanted to never let him go, he wanted to say that without Naruto he was nothing, no one, that he would never have become the man he was today. He would not be able to feel pride, would not be able to feel alive, to be happy, to cry, to feel, to be, to exist. Naruto had made him, had formed him, had completed him. Naruto was everything. He wanted to tell him this so badly, but words were not enough, showing him was not enough, a touch was not enough; it had to be something much deeper, much more special, something much more fitting. Suddenly the thought of a chakra bond felt too small a thing to do, to propose.

Before any words, any movements or gestures could be exchanged Naruto had finally given in to his long desire, and embraced Sasuke, burying his face into Sasuke's shoulder, pressing his body tightly against his chest, laying his head against his shoulder. Immediately Sasuke returned the gesture, not even thinking about what he was doing. He laid his cheek on top of Naruto's head, feeling the soft ear close to the bridge of his nose, taking in Naruto's smell.

"You don't need to explain," Naruto said again, "because I can feel it." He moved his head over to Sasuke's heart. "I can hear it."

-xXx-

Sakura looked down upon the half-naked body of Sasuke kneeling in front of her. His head was slightly faced downward, not looking up to her standing form; a ghost of a smile on his face. He was glancing to his left. There sat another half-naked man; a blond tanned man wearing loose white pants. He was also kneeling in front of the pink haired woman. Sakura turned her head away from the raven haired man in equally white pants to the blond, fox-eared man. He seemed ever so slightly nervous, but smiled back at Sasuke when he noticed the glance in his direction. Sakura grinned when she saw the red tail with white tip playfully move around behind him.

"You two ready?" she asked, tuning her head from the one to the other. Sasuke and Naruto both nodded, and Sakura picked up a small bottle filled with a black liquid.

She hunched down in front of Sasuke first, and he looked up to her. Sakura smiled at him while she moved a finger to the bottle and dipped it in the dark liquid. Next she moved it to Sasuke's chest, and started drawing a kanji right over his heart. She wrote with precise strokes the kanji for heart before she drew a perfect circle around it.

She had felt Sasuke tense his body when the cold liquid touched his skin, but as she continued drawing, writing unreadable symbols and marks like long strings fanning out over his body, he relaxed more. Sakura moved over to his back, continued her artwork there until she reached the only piece of clothing the man was wearing. She stood up and went back to his front, and next drew another kanji right over his stomach; it said 'chakra'. This time she only drew one cord of symbols connecting to the circle around the kanji. It went to Sasuke's side, and she started writing on the white cloth of his pants all the way down along the side of Sasuke's leg until she reached the floor.

She stood up and studied her handiwork. Sasuke's torso had been painted black, all the way from the shoulders to his waist. Only the one chain to the floor reached further. She turned then to Naruto and did the exact same thing to him. Only the chain from the kanji on his stomach went left, toward Sasuke, instead of right. She then connected the chain of symbols over the floor to the point on the ground at Sasuke's feet where she had left off.

Finally finishing the inking of the seal she straightened up again, and placed the now half-emptied bottle on a small table behind her. Practised she knelt down, and with precision put the small piece of glass exactly in the middle of the table. The ritual hadn't finished yet, because she turned around again, facing the two men. She straightened her soft pink kimono, and calmly looked around. Black and blue were watching her every move.

Sakura couldn't help but smile as she remembered Sasuke coming to visit her on a dark stormy night months ago.

"_Sasuke-kun?" she had asked opening the door to face a soaked Sasuke. "What are you doing here all soaked up?"_

_Without answering, Sasuke stepped into the warm and cosy environment of Sakura's and Sai's home. Sakura led him into the living room, and got him a towel. "Is something wrong?" she finally asked after Sasuke had dried his hair._

_Sasuke shook his head. "No, I just came back from a mission, but no one was home."_

_Sakura frowned and sat back, leaning against a small cabinet. "Did something happen?" she asked next._

_Again Sasuke shook his head. "No."_

"_You just wanted to talk?" she asked softly._

_Sasuke did not deny this, and looked down at the towel in his hand. "Isn't Sai home?"_

_This time Sakura shook her head. "Mission with Kakashi-sensei."_

_Sakura stood up and went to get them some tea. It took a lot of patience on Sakura's part, but eventually Sasuke started to answer her questions and started to talk back. Slowly he opened up more, and the conversation finally came to the point which Sakura knew had led Sasuke to her house._

"_I just wish I could… show him," Sasuke suddenly said softly, not facing Sakura._

_Sakura looked down at her tea. She wasn't quite certain what he was talking about, but she thought she did. _

"_You mean, beside the way of showing him in bed?" Sakura asked calmly._

_Sasuke turned his head to her. "I… I don't know," he told her truthfully._

"_You feel like showing him how important he is without making some kind of commitment?" she asked next._

_Sasuke shrugged. "I don't know." He shifted around a little. "On the one hand I feel like… I want him to be mine, to show the rest of the world we belong together," he confessed, "but on the other hand I know we both don't need such things to show our…" his voice suddenly died down._

"_Love," Sakura finished and nodded. "I know what you want to say." _

_They sat in silence for a while, and calmly drank their third cup of tea. It was well into the night, but for some reason neither felt tired enough to stand up and leave things like this._

_After a while Sakura started to play with a lock of her hair, twirling it around her index finger. Sasuke looked up to her, noticing the nervous tick._

_Sakura bit her lip before opening her mouth. "I know the two of you don't need a symbol or a piece of paper to show you are dedicated to one another, but what if… what if you made a sort of bond that does not really show?"_

_Sasuke looked up to her. "What are you talking about?" he asked, narrowing his eyes, but Sakura knew he was interested._

_Sakura leant closer over the table toward Sasuke. "A ritual."_

"_A ritual?" Sasuke asked, sounding sceptical. However, unconsciously he leant closer to her, curious to know what Sakura was talking about._

"_I read about it in one of Tsunade-sama's scrolls. It's a ritual in which two shinobi make a bond… through their chakra."_

_Sasuke narrowed his eyes once more, and sat back again. "Hn," he said sounding disappointed._

"_It has all kinds of advantages, but more importantly…" Sakura waited for Sasuke to look up to her. "It does not show, but it-" she moved her hand over her chest, "it connects," she gripped her shirt in her hands around the place where her heart was, "deep within."_

_For a long time neither spoke, Sasuke contemplating this new piece of information. He did not seem convinced._

It wasn't until weeks later that Sasuke suddenly brought the subject up again. They talked about it once more, Sakura explaining everything about the ritual, how it was a seal, what the advantages were, the possible downsides and risks, but more importantly the meaning of such an act. Sasuke seemed more interested than he had been before, but still did not seem fully convinced. Again after this conversation the subject did not come up for a long time until a month before the chuunin exams began.

_Sakura was in the hospital, cleaning up a cabinet when Sasuke appeared in the window. "Still working?" he asked, stepping inside._

_It started out as a normal conversation. "What are you doing here? Weren't you supposed to take Akira-kun into the park?"_

_Sasuke looked up surprised. "How do you know?" he asked suspiciously, leaning against the wall beside the open window._

"_Naruto told me last night." _

_Sasuke seemed to realise what was going on. Sasuke had been away last night, ordered to take a scroll to a nearby village. After Akira went to bed, Naruto sometimes left the house for a stroll. Last night he must have gone to Sakura._

_Sasuke crossed his arms. "Tsunade-sama wanted me to tell you she wants the results of the Kobachi mission," he said, finally telling her the reason of his appearance._

"_I've completed that not even ten minutes ago," she said, patting a stack of brown folders. "I was just cleaning up."_

_Sasuke nodded and moved toward the window, getting ready to leave, but Sakura stopped him by placing a hand on his shoulder. "I don't know if you've thought about it lately, but…" Sasuke turned his body toward her. "I know Naruto wouldn't mind at all."_

_Sasuke looked startled. He obviously knew what she had been talking about. "You asked him?" he asked angrily._

_Sakura let go of Sasuke, holding up her hands protectively. "No, no, of course not!"_

_Sasuke turned away from her, back to the window. He stepped into the windowsill, but stopped. "Are you sure?" he asked softly._

_Sakura smiled. "Yes."_

While Naruto was away to the chuunin exams, Sakura had suggested all kinds of ways for Sasuke to ask Naruto to take part in the ritual. Sakura thought it was cute that Sasuke seemed so uncertain about how to ask Naruto. It appeared he was afraid to ask the blond. Sakura knew it was quite an important question, and not one to take lightly, but she also knew the two were ready for it. She tried to encourage Sasuke in every possible way, because it felt right to do so, as if it was her duty to make it happen.

And then, finally, three days ago Sasuke had showed up in her garden, smiling brightly. Sakura was quite surprised by the sight of the smiling Uchiha, and even more so when he told her he had asked Naruto.

"_What did he say?" she asked excitedly, though of course already knowing the answer; if not for being certain that Naruto would agree, the look on Sasuke's face was an answer in itself._

_Quite suddenly Sasuke embraced her, and Sakura felt a blush forming on her cheeks. Sasuke had never hugged her like this before. "Thank you for everything." _

_Unable to make any sense of her words after that, Sasuke left her alone. _

Sakura held up her hand in the ram hand sign. She gave a nod to her team mates before they returned it. A series of hand signs followed, she finished with the hand sign labelled snake before slamming the palm of her right hand precisely onto the middle of the inked chain on the floor. It glowed up a soft pink as her chakra ran through it, going left and right. It followed the chain to the stomachs of both men where the kanji glowed softly. Next the kanji written over their hearts glowed, and the strings started to grow tightly around their bodies, moving over their arms, and faces, disappearing underneath the fabric of their pants to reappear on their bare feet. Like chains they tightened around the bodies of both ninja, and Sakura took a step back to see what was happening.

Both Sasuke and Naruto winced when the chain connecting their stomachs pulled tight between them, moving up from the floor like a rope. It tugged at their bodies before it stopped glowing. For a moment nothing happened before the black strings covering their bodies started to retract, not to the kanji on their chest, but to the one on their stomach, until only the two black circles with the kanji and the chain linking them were left.

Sakura paid close attention to Sasuke's and Naruto's condition, but they both seemed fine. The string between the two, connecting their bellybuttons, hung between them.

For a moment Naruto doubled over, and flattened his fox ears against his head when the seal of the fox appeared over the black ink. This was apparently what Sakura had been waiting for as her eyes were fixed on Naruto's stomach before it had even appeared. Naruto made a movement as to grab his stomach, but did not. After a moment, during which Sasuke had looked around if the blond was okay, Naruto straightened up again. "It's okay," he panted softly.

Sakura let out a sigh of relief. The inked kanji glowed pink once more on top of the seal of the fox. On Sasuke's stomach it glowed up pink as well, before it turned a soft purple. On Naruto's stomach it turned into a mix of red and yellow: orange. The orange and purple followed the chain and met in the middle, where it mixed and flowed into the other chakra.

Sasuke gritted his teeth when the somewhat vile chakra entered his body, and closed his eyes. Naruto cast a worried look before looking away again. This had been the most important reason why Sakura had never suggested this ritual to Sasuke or Naruto before. It wasn't until she had seen the two of them huddled together within Sasuke's Susano'o, where both their chakras stabilised the enormous shadow of a man, that Sakura had realised their chakras could be exchanged after all. They had done so right before her eyes that very day.

The link had been made. Their chakra mix glowed even brighter before fading away. It looked like it was eating away the black inked chain between their bodies as it too faded into nothingness. Sakura watched how the ink on their stomachs disappeared until only the kanji written over their hearts remained. This was Sakura's sign. She held up her hands, palms open toward Sasuke and Naruto, and pushed her hands on each of their chests over the ink. "Fuin," she said, making it all permanent.

Once she pulled her hands away the ink was completely gone; there was not a single sign on their bodies showing that anything had happened just now. Sasuke was still panting softly, and Naruto slid down into a cross-legged position. "Wow, Sakura-chan, you did great," he said.

"Of course," Sakura said, smiling. She turned to Sasuke. "You'll manage."

Sasuke glanced up to her face. "Hn."

Sakura stood up and started to clean up the room. Naruto watched Sasuke catch his breath, and noticed how a single drop of sweat slid down the side of his smooth pale face. "I don't really feel any difference, you?" he finally asked.

Sasuke swept the sweat of his face, and turned to Naruto, who sat smiling at him. "I figured as much," he said.

"Why?" Naruto asked, "because of the fox?"

Sasuke nodded. "Its chakra, it's quite heavy," he said.

"Oh," Naruto said sheepishly. "But when we switched bodies it did not seem to bother you."

"I was inside your body, it's used to it. This is different." Sasuke tilted his head to see where Sakura was, and then stood up. Naruto did the same and turned around, like Sasuke, toward a small person sitting in one of the corners of the room. Sasuke took a couple of strides toward the small person, and sat down on his haunches in front of him. Akira smiled at his father before taking his outstretched hand. Together they walked back and faced Sakura, who stood waiting for everyone.

Naruto grinned and stomped Sasuke against his arm. "Let's go." He picked his and Sasuke's shirt up from the ground, and pulled the orange one over his head. He then threw Sasuke's shirt over to the tall man.

Sasuke put his shirt on before following the others with the little boy in hand. It was strange, this feeling of knowing he was connected to Naruto's chakra. He knew he could access it at will. It was like everything was completely different from before, while at the same time everything was exactly the same.

Outside Sakura turned around and hugged both man. Akira looked up to the adults with interest before hugging Sakura's leg, not wanting to be left aside. Sakura smiled down at the small boy, hunched down, kissed him on the cheek and left. "Have fun, bye," she said waving. Naruto and Akira waved back.

"Thanks for everything, Sakura-chan!" Naruto yawned as they started walking. "I could really sleep. You?" he asked turning his head to Sasuke, who shrugged.

The sun shone brightly onto the three as they crossed the market, and then strolled through the green park. Beautifully coloured flowers greeted them, the buzzing of happy bees collecting pollen, butterflies dancing in the air, the birds singing their song. Sasuke looked up into the blue cloudless sky and felt nice and warm. His son happily tried to keep up to his pace, still holding his hand. Such a small hand, Sasuke thought. His free hand moved over to Naruto and folded around the bigger hand, though still smaller than his own. Naruto looked up at him and smiled. Sasuke returned it. He was happy, immensely satisfied.

Akira looked up, a question obviously burning on his tongue. "Are you married now?" he asked innocently.

Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other before the blond burst out laughing at the look on Sasuke's face.

-owari-

* I'm referring to the one-shot _Kisu_ of course ;)

A/N: I finally finished it. I can't believe it…

To MS: Thank you for all the beta-ing you've done for me! :D


	42. Epilogue

When I was looking through some old files on my computer, I suddenly found this. I had forgotten about it, but I edited it a little and decided to make the best of it... It's not much, but I hope you can enjoy it, even after such a long time…

-oXo-

**Epilogue**

_Date unknown_

_Sasuke stared at Naruto, who was almost the same height he was, and waited for the blond to speak. The raven was annoyed, and wanted to go home. He had just done another stupid D-rank mission along with Sakura and Naruto, and hoped he would soon be allowed to do more than these simple and mostly boring jobs. It had almost been a year since he had started doing the missions._

_Not that he would ever complain; he knew it was a part of his punishment, and he had to admit that with Naruto joining him -and maybe even Sakura and Kakashi as well- it made the punishment more bearable._

"_So? Why are we standing here?" he finally asked the uncharacteristically silent Naruto. He looked up to the oak tree they stood under. It was filled with tiny acorns. Behind it was a small bakery, surrounded by dwellings. There was a small open place behind him, like a tiny square. When he looked down he saw a droplet of water fall on the stones at his feet._

"_Well," Naruto muttered softly. "I just thought…" He looked away from Sasuke._

_It had only been three weeks since they had gone on their 'first date' to the Hokage monument. Naruto was still not very used to the idea of them liking each other, which made him react in very cute ways, like making him blush red more than necessary (in Sasuke's opinion). Not that he cared, because he liked Naruto acting in this way._

"_Thought?" Sasuke asked. A couple of rain droplets made soft ticking sounds on the leaves of the oak tree._

_To his surprise Naruto, with puffed cheeks, turned to look at him. "I don't want to go home yet," he said almost childishly, folding his arms._

_This unsettled Sasuke a little. "Eh?" _

_Naruto shook his head. "Today's missions were over so quickly. I don't have any missions of my own…" he lowered his head, "baa-chan must have forgotten about me…" Then suddenly he looked up again. "And I don't know what to do now."_

_Thinking it was not unusual for Naruto to be bored and whiney over something like this, Sasuke leant against the tree to listen to Naruto's rambling. This could take a while._

_It started to rain harder, and Naruto got closer to the trunk as well, leaning against it next to Sasuke, their shoulders almost touching._

"_You mind standing here for a bit?" Naruto asked suddenly._

_Surprised by the lack of words, Sasuke glanced to Naruto. "Hm," he shrugged._

_Naruto smiled. _

_They watched the small square as the stones turned a dark colour, and people quickly moved away to get some shelter from the spring rain._

"_I think Sakura-chan doesn't really like me," Naruto suddenly said._

"_You only noticed now?" Sasuke joked._

_Naruto glared at Sasuke. "I mean… since… you know…" His whiskered cheeks soon rivalled the Kyuubi's fur in colour. He turned his head away._

"_Since… I kissed you?" Sasuke finished Naruto's sentence. His heart skipped a beat at the memory of their lips touching back in that alley._

_Naruto did not answer, and was so silent that Sasuke started to wonder if he had gone deaf. "She's just… you know… being a girl."_

_Naruto turned his head back to Sasuke. "A girl?" he asked, and it almost sounded like he had never realised that she was a girl._

"_Yeah, they get all…" Sasuke waved his hand, "you know when…" He glanced at Naruto curtly before mumbling 'it's Sakura' and turned his head away._

_Naruto was obviously amused by Sasuke's behaviour, and seemed to have forgotten his own problems rather rapidly. He watched the bluish black spikes, the cloth of the blue headband, and the round shape of Sasuke's ear. He had a tiny birthmark there, Naruto noticed. He was wearing his white long sleeved shirt, the dark pants and the blue cloth twisted around his waist, held together by a purple rope._

_Suddenly Sasuke felt a finger prick in his side. "Na, Sasuke, why are you still wearing these clothes?"_

_Sasuke looked into Naruto's blue eyes. "Why are you still wearing those orange pants?"_

_Naruto pouted, his eyes narrowed in annoyance, and turned to look at the square. "I like orange," he muttered._

_They listened to the sound of the rain falling, watching some people hiding under their umbrella as they went to the small bakery._

_Suddenly Sasuke felt a soft touch against his hand. He looked down without moving his head, making it look like he had not noticed the touch. Then he felt Naruto's fingers brush against the side of his hand again._

_He noticed from the corners of his eyes how a soft red tint spread over Naruto's cheeks, making Sasuke smile ever so slightly. Still staring at the square, he calmly waited for Naruto to finally complete his failing attempts. Fist he felt two fingers move between his loose fingers, carefully followed by more. He opened his hand ever so slightly, and welcomed Naruto's warm hand into his own._

_Neither looked at the other; neither spoke. They just stood there, holding hands, while the rain kept falling._

-oxo-

Naruto stood with his hands in his sides, looking up at a big banner above his head. On it someone had written in a nice straight handwriting the word 'tournament'. Naruto grinned and looked up to the tall raven standing next to him.

Sasuke looked down at Naruto, seeing his huge grin.

Today Kiba and Sakura had arranged a competition to be held between their friends, including their senseis. Tsunade had approved of it, and had arranged an area where they could fight; safely, far away from the village. She was there as well, to watch the fights.

The fight would take place in an arena-like training field just outside Konoha. Some other ninjas had heard about it, and had come as well, wanting to see this tournament among high skilled shinobi. The word of the friendly tournament had spread rather fast -for some strange reason- , and had attracted a lot of people, even normal civilians.

Naruto had been very excited about it, and had been happily humming all morning. He had never really fought in a tournament, not like this. Nothing depended on it and it was purely friendly, but it was so very exciting. Akira had wanted to come as well, and Sasuke had only approved if he would stay with Iruka and Naruto's students, who of course didn't want to miss any of this either.

Naruto looked over to Sasuke. "Ready to finish our last fight?"

Sasuke grinned. "You bet."

They entered the field and walked over to the others already waiting there. There was Gai, Kurenai, Lee, Tenten, Neji, Chouji, Ino, Shakiamru, Kiba, Hinata, Shino, Sai and Sakura. Once the joined the others Sasuke turned around and could see Akira up on the tribune, sitting between Iruka and Eri.

They didn't have to wait very long; somehow Kakashi had been only a little late, which of course was highly unusual. Tsunade held up a big pot filled with small balls on which had been painted the numbers 1 to 16.

"This didn't change into a bingo afternoon, did it?" Kiba asked grinning.

"Everyone will be assigned a number. According to the number on the ball that you will draw from the pot, you will be placed in a match." Tsunade answered. She pointed to a board behind her on which a contestant schema was drawn like a family tree. All the way at the bottom were written all the numbers one through 16. Number 1 was positioned to fight with number 2, 3 with 4 and so on. Under each number was space to add a name.

"Right."

"Everyone will draw a number as soon as you have lined up," Tsunade explained. "Okay, but first I will explain the rules. Rule number one: stay inside the arena, you can go underground and in the sky, but not go over or under the walls of this place. Rule number two: when it comes to the fight, I will decide when to start and stop the fight, and you will not argue with me. Rule number three: I decide on the winner and loser, no argue possible here either. That was that."

Everyone nodded and Tsunade continued. "This competition has been arranged by Kiba and Sakura; don't come to me for any of your complaints."

"You helped as well, Tsunade-sama," Sakura reminded her with a smile.

"Hai, hai," Tsunade waved her hand. "All right, let's start." Tsunade called everyone, one by one, to her and let them draw a ball from the pot. Every time someone drew a ball, they could hear the other plastic balls move inside before Tsunade wrote down the combination of the two fighting contestants. Finally the pot was empty and she stood up. "Alright, everything is written down. The first fight will be between Sai and Sasuke."

"Hn."

Sasuke and Sai walked up to the field and stood very still opposite of each other while the rest retreated to the side, where there was a waiting area. This was a little to the left of Tsunade, who sat on a small platform so that she looked down a little on the field.

Naruto bent a little to Sakura. "This could get interesting."

Sakura grinned. "Or very boring."

Naruto laughed.

Tsunade gave the sign for the match to start, and immediately Sai pulled out his drawing set. He had already drawn a number of animals before Sasuke had even lifted a hand. For some reason Sasuke just stood staring at him even though the beasts Sai'd drawn ran towards him, still lifting his hand. It soon became clear why Sasuke was so very, very calm.

Sai followed Sasuke's hand, making sure to see which weapon he would draw, only to be surprised when the hand moved over the weapon's pouch, over his katana, higher over his chest and finally a finger moved to his nose.

At that very moment Sai knew that he had been tricked. He looked up into Sasuke red eyes. His Sharingan changed into a Mangekyou Sharingan, and Sai was caught in a powerful genjutsu.

Some people in the crowd stood up when Sai's beast dripped to the floor in a puddle of ink. Neither man moved, and the normal citizens in the crowd started wondering why nothing was happening. However, not even a minute had passed when Sai fell to the ground, panting.

"A boring one," Naruto nodded, looking down at the pink-haired woman standing beside him, hanging over the railing. "You were right."

Sakura swore loudly, telling Sai how stupid he'd been, and that she had at least expected a little more of him. But Sai didn't seem to be bothered by it. After Tsunade had declared Sasuke's victory, Sai let Sakura pull him off the ground and guide him back to the waiting area. There he seemed to enjoy her screaming and caring hands checking out his body for injuries.

After Sasuke had been declared winner, Shino and Tenten followed them up for the next battle. After a long and exciting fight, Shino won just by a hair and maybe some luck. Next followed the match between Kakashi against Shikamaru, which Shikamaru lost. No-one was sure if it had been because of laziness or because he'd actually lost. Probably only the two of them knew.

Shikamaru lazily strolled back to the waiting area, followed by Kakashi, and yawned as he lay down on a wooden bench. The crowd didn't really seem very thrilled to watch the match, but would soon cheer in excitement and joy as next up were Gai and Lee.

This turned out to be a rather interesting fight. They really gave it their all, and Naruto had been very thrilled to watch the fight. Sakura was cheering Lee on from beside Naruto while Sasuke silently watched, his red eyes following every movement they made on the field.

At long last both Gai and Lee seemed very worn from their match, and both were in tears when Gai had punched Lee as his final move, which had knocked Lee out for a good couple of seconds.

Tsunade wrote down Gai's name on the board before reading aloud the next contestants. "Kiba against Naruto."

Kiba smirked, his sharp canines showing as he turned his face to Naruto, arms folded over his chest. "Haha, I have to fight fox-boy."

Naruto frowned. "Shut it, Kiba. Better be prepared for some payback time." He pointed at the brunette.

Kiba's grin didn't wither. "Don't know what you are talking about, pretty boy."

Naruto's right eye twitched, as did his right ear. "Oooh," he growled angrily, following Kiba and his dog onto the field.

-oxo-

_Standing next to a tree his eyes were scanning his surroundings. It was like Naruto was waiting for someone, or something to happen. He turned his head slowly, looking around, his blond spikes blown to one side by the warm summer breeze._

_His sparkling blue eyes, looking somewhat lighter today, were searching for something. From left to right they moved; first over the few trees to his left, the grass, the street, a few houses, and a bridge to his right._

_Taking a deep breath when he didn't find what he was looking for, he leant back against the tree, and looked up into the green deck of leaves. A few seeds of the maple tree came whirling down; looking like small helicopters as they slowly turned around their axes, floating on the wind. A smile appeared on his face as he followed a few of the dancing feather-like seeds._

_Some of the seeds landed in his yellow hair and on his clothes. Brushing them off his orange and black jacket, he noticed his black pants, traded for his usual orange one by request. He didn't really agree to the change, but from the moment ramen had been involved he didn't really care about what he was asked to wear anymore._

_He looked up to the slightly pinkish tinted pale blue sky. It was still early, and not a lot of people were up yet. The only people out on the streets were early birds to go to the market, or were getting ready for work. _

_His eyes followed a few people as they passed by for a while, but he soon started to get bored. A few passers-by noticed him standing in the brown playfully twirling snow. Again he shook his head to get rid of the maple offspring._

"_Naruto," a deep soft voice suddenly sounded from behind him. He turned around to his left to find a slightly pale face, framed by bluish black hair, and dark eyes staring into his as if they were looking into his soul. He hadn't expected the person next to him to be standing on such a short distance, their noses almost touching._

"_Wha! Sasuke!" Naruto took a step back in surprise, his right arm moving up as if he wanted to protect his face. This earned him a smirk from the Uchiha. "Teme," Naruto mumbled, narrowing his eyes._

_Sasuke's smirk didn't disappear while his eyes narrowed. "Dobe."_

_Naruto pouted. "You're late," he frowned, and folded his arms over his chest in protest._

_Sasuke arrogantly heaved his head a little. "I'm not," he simply stated, not finding it necessary to explain himself._

_Naruto looked back, still waiting for the explanation to come, but it didn't. "You're not?" he decided to ask, following every movement Sasuke made, seeing how he looked to his left, then back to Naruto before looking at him from head till toe._

"_You're wearing the black pants," the Uchiha stated. _

_Naruto's eyebrows rose since he had been waiting for an answer to his question, not for another question. Then he looked down when he saw Sasuke stare at his pants. "Huh, oh, yeah." He looked up again, smiling. "You promised me ramen."_

_Sasuke's mouth curved up ever so slightly. Naruto was so easily distracted. He moved his hand to Naruto's shoulder, brushing off some maple seeds. Then he turned around and walked off._

_After a few seconds Naruto realised Sasuke was just walking away without saying a single word. He had to take a small sprint to catch up. "What are we going to do?" he asked, looking around a little nervously as if very aware of his surroundings all of a sudden._

_Sasuke noticed this, but didn't say anything. He just kept walking without saying a word, leaving his thin lips sealed._

_Naruto tried not to be curious, and instead took a few breaths, telling himself not to ask anything. To distract himself from the silence between the two, Naruto decided to take a look at Sasuke, glancing at him from the side._

_He was wearing his usual dark blue pants and white long sleeved shirt with a big red fan, the family symbol, on the back. The shirt, a bit too white for Naruto's taste, was loosely wrapped around his torso; his bare chest visible, showing his pale but certainly attractive features. The high collar masked his mouth from Naruto's position, making it hard for the blond to decide if he was frowning or smirking. His thin eyebrows were curved downward ever so slightly, and his darks eyes looked serious. They were hard, but also not. They were arrogant, but also not. Naruto wasn't quite sure how that was possible, but now that he was thinking about it, he was sure a couple of months ago he would have only been able to see the hard arrogant look. However, at this very moment he saw more than that, even though he could not exactly say what else it was that he saw._

_Finally noticing the blue eyes on him, Sasuke looked over to Naruto, turning his head ever so slightly. His expression didn't change._

_Quickly Naruto gave Sasuke a goofy grin, and turned to look forward to where they were walking. After a few seconds Sasuke turned his head back to the street as well._

_Sasuke could feel the tension rise within Naruto. Slowly the kettle was starting to boil. He liked seeing Naruto like this: the blond really tried not to be curious, but he was. It was his nature, and he would never be able to do anything against it, as hard as he might try. Just a few more minutes, before they would reach the end of the street, Naruto would explode, and Sasuke would be sprayed with a rain of questions._

_Which he would ignore as if he was a deaf man._

_Smirking internally, he counted down to Naruto's boiling point. _

_Soon, before they would round the corner of the street, he would find out he had been right._

"_Where are we going? Why don't you say anything? Is it a secret or something? You know you can tell me, right? Are we going to the training field? What do you have in mind? Why won't you tell? What about the ramen you promised? Are you listening to me?" _

_Noticing Sasuke was ignoring him, Naruto started to get even more irritated. "Teme! You ask me to come here in the middle of the night, only to arrive late, which you never do! And now you expect me to just follow you? Tell me, where are we going? Sasuke, you bastard, where are you taking me?"_

_So predictable. Naruto would probably soon stop walking, refusing to take another single step._

_Naruto grunted, balled his fists, and -indeed- stopped walking; not satisfied by not getting an answer to any one of his questions, or even a single glance. "I will not keep following you like this until you tell me where we're headed!" To emphasize his words he pounded his foot onto the ground, making sure that Sasuke heard him come to a sudden halt._

_However, Sasuke still continued walking, as if nothing was going on behind him. Unable to stay rooted to the spot for much longer, with Sasuke getting away further and further, Naruto had to move again. Muttering and grumbling, clenching and unclenching his fists, the blond strode forward until he was on level with the raven once more._

_Already knowing what was about to come, Sasuke took a step to his right, at the same moment Naruto wanted to grab his arm._

_Noticing he had missed the raven didn't do much good for the blond's mood. He looked at Sasuke's back, and once more started walking to catch up with the ever silent Uchiha. Almost literally shaking from anger, Naruto raised his arm, only to bump into Sasuke when the raven had suddenly stopped walking._

"_Argh, teme! What are you-" Naruto stopped when he saw Sasuke's face, looking ever so slightly down upon him. "What?" he asked, pursing his lips indignantly._

_Sasuke slowly blinked, waiting for Naruto to calm down a little, but when he noticed that his own calmness was probably irritating Naruto even more, he decided to speak up. He had successfully managed to draw Naruto's attention from their surroundings long enough._

"_There," he said, pointing somewhere to his right._

_Curiously Naruto looked around Sasuke, trying to find out what he was pointing at. "Where?" he asked, not finding anything he could imagine Sasuke would point at. To their left was a park, but Sasuke's finger was aimed at a few houses to their right._

_Sasuke sighed, seeing Naruto's brain work overtime for something like this. "Where am I pointing at?"_

_Naruto looked up to Sasuke, who had an empty expression on his face. "Ehm… to some houses?"_

_Sasuke nodded. "Go on."_

_Naruto took a better look at the houses, having to peer around Sasuke again. "Dwellings, a bakery…" Naruto looked up to Sasuke, looking for confirmation._

"_Look at my finger," Sasuke told him again._

_As if Sasuke was a statue that Naruto had to examine, the blond walked around Sasuke, taking in all angles of the pointing finger. Finally he moved his head next to the hand, closing one eye, and tried to follow the pointing finger. _

_Sasuke wanted to roll his eyes as Naruto held his arm to keep himself steady. "Don't move," Naruto told him. Now he did roll his eyes._

"_Okay, I think I see…" Naruto said slowly, "I think that is…"_

_Starting to believe he might have made a mistake kissing the blond in the back of that alley, Sasuke narrowed his eyes. (Of course he hadn't made a mistake; he's Sasuke after all)._

"_What am I looking at exactly?" Naruto asked, looking up to Sasuke, still holding his arm in place._

_Sasuke looked up to the sky to calm himself down. _

"_Uh, Sasuke? Are you alright?" Naruto asked a bit worried._

"_Dobe."_

_Naruto raised an eyebrow. "I guess you're fine then."_

"_I'm pointing at that big oak tree, can't you see?"_

"_Really?" Naruto followed the finger, still floating in the air. Then, "oooooh, now I see."_

_Sasuke started walking toward the tree._

"_So, why a tree?" Naruto asked, following behind Sasuke._

_Sasuke said nothing, and again silence was all that came from Sasuke as the two of them walked up to that tree._

-oxo-

Naruto jumped backwards over Kiba to dodge Akamaru. Kiba looked up while he had been running at Naruto, and watched how the blond almost seemed to fly through the air, all the while facing Kiba as if the axis of his jump was between both their heads. Naruto's hands were crossed as he reached for the shuriken holster at his right leg with his left hand and with his right hand moved pulled out a kunai from his sleeve.

Before Kiba could turn around Naruto had already landed behind him. Quickly Kiba kicked backward, and barely missed Naruto because the blond jumped out of reach, throwing the kunai and shuriken in the process.

It almost looked like Naruto was merely playing with Kiba, which frustrated the brunette even more so when he saw the smile on Naruto's face. He growled and began doing some hand signs, Akamaru coming up beside him.

Naruto stopped, wondering what Kiba was about to do, and brought his hands together, ready to make some Bunshins. However, before he could even put his fingers together the ground underneath him began to shake, and suddenly without warning came upward. The ground moved him high into the sky so fast that Naruto was pushed against the ground as it rose higher and higher into the sky, like a spike shooting up from the ground.

As the height of the growing tower of dirt grew, the smaller the area on the top became. The ground to the sides sometimes just stopped growing along with the rest, making the top smaller and look more like a sharp tip. Naruto had trouble to keep himself balanced on the rapidly decreasing area on which he tried to stand.

And then suddenly the growing stopped. Naruto was launched a few meters further into the air due to the momentum he had obtained as he had been pushed up by the ground. However, he made a slight direction adjustment, turned in the air, and gracefully landed on top of the spike that was now barely big enough to place one foot on.

He looked down at what seemed like a 200 m depth. He had to squeeze his eyes a bit to see what happened on the ground. He could barely distinguish Akamaru as he emerged from the ground, probably having set some traps.

Naruto waved his fox tail behind him as he crouched down on the tip of the sharp rock, one hand touching the spike while the other moved to his hip, hovering over his weapon's pouch. His hair waved in the wind, his fox ears as well; the wind was strong up here. He observing and weighed down his options.

All the way down, Kiba was grinning as he looked up. He wondered how Naruto would get out of this. He had set traps all around the spike, there was no way Naruto could come down and step onto the ground without stepping on at least one of them. Kiba narrowed his eyes. All he had to do now was wait, wait for Naruto to step onto the ground.

He watched how Naruto's red tail swished behind him, moving like a flag in the wind. Then suddenly the blond moved his hands together in his famous hand sign while he straightened up. Kiba couldn't imagine how making Kage Bunshins was supposed to help Naruto so far high up while he barely had space to keep on standing there on one foot.

Smoke formed around Naruto as two Bunshins formed at either side of him. They both stepped against the side of the tip of the spike, holding a hand of the Naruto in the middle, like acrobats. They all looked down for a moment before suddenly the middle Naruto let go of the two Naruto's at his side. As they began to fall a lot of things happened in a very short time.

The middle Naruto dived graciously into the depth, following the other two blonds, and Kiba's eyes widened. Did Naruto want to kill himself?

Naruto's two clones moved their feet down, toward the surface of the spike, which was growing in surface the further they moved down. Finally their feet touched the surface of the spike, and they began running down.

Suddenly Kiba heard Akamaru give a bark before a whining sound followed. He looked around and saw another clone of Naruto holding Akamaru to the ground. _When had he made that clone?_

When he turned back it was just in time to see the two clones disappear from his sight, just like that, vanishing into thin air. The next thing he knew was that it felt like he was being pulled backwards, and before he could fully realise what had actually happened he was pinned to the ground by his arms by clones that had only seconds before been running down at him, even though they had still been many meters away from him.

He now had a clear view of the real Naruto as he dived down directly toward him. He saw orange chakra flare as two giant Rasengans were formed, one in each hand.

Kiba's eyes widened as he tried to free himself.

_He wouldn't, would he? No, Naruto couldn't do such a thing. _

Nonetheless he felt quite frightened as the two orange balls came closer rapidly. He closed his eyes.

He felt the ground on either side of him crush and crumble as a force met the ground. When he finally dared to open his eyes again he saw Naruto hanging over him, sitting on his hunches as he grinned broadly at Kiba. A finger hovered over his face and flicked his nose.

"Gotcha."

Right at the moment that Kiba had closed his eyes, Naruto had let the Rasengans dissolve in the air, and had turned his body so he could land on both feet.

Kiba stared wide-eyed at Naruto, and when he glanced to his right, to the other waiting in to the side of the field, he noticed more stunned faces. Naruto had survived that fall? Without breaking any bones?

Naruto stood up and pulled his leg back over Kiba, like he hadn't just jumped from such a great height which would surely have splintered the bones in everyone else's legs.

"You were a bit scared there, weren't you?" Naruto asked.

However, before Kiba could answer, Naruto had turned around and slowly began walking back to the waiting room, his hands behind the back of his head. Kiba felt the two clones that had been holding him down help him up before they disappeared. With another 'poof' Akamaru was freed as well.

As the dog came to stand next to him, Kiba patted him on the head. "You did fine, boy." Finally he was able to grin again. He had lost from Naruto… again; had underestimated him _again._

"Uzumaki is the winner. Next is Hinata against," Tsunade looked at the whiteboard, "Chouji."

During Hinata's and Chouji's fight Hinata actually knocked Chouji out, giving him a bloody nose that didn't stop for at least half an hour. The next fight was between Ino and Neji, which was over rather quickly.

Ino had already said so from the start, and everybody knew it was true, that she worked better in a team. Ino-Shika-Cho had the best teamwork from all of them.

Last was the fight between Sakura against Kurenai. Kurenai used her genjutsu against Sakura, but over the years Sakura had become a pro at deflecting and fighting off genjutsus, with help from Sasuke. So in the end Sakura won this battle.

Tsunade stood up and looked up to the results of the first round. She turned to the cheering crowd. "Let's start the second round. Sasuke. Shino. Come forward." The Hokage watched the two stoic men walk onto the field, and after facing each other they just stared at one another.

"Win for me, Sasuke-_chan_!" Naruto shouted, grinning widely. "Make it spectacular."

-oxo-

_Standing next to the oak tree, Naruto looked up and down the big trunk until his eyes reached the deck of leaves. He didn´t see anything special at all. _

"_So…?" Naruto asked, looking down to Sasuke._

_An eerie smile slowly spread over Sasuke's face, making Naruto slightly nervous._

"_What?" the blond asked. "What?" he asked more urgently when Sasuke's expression didn't change nor when he said anything. "If you don't tell, I'll go away." No reaction. "I'll really leave!"_

_Sasuke's smile became smaller, and even slightly confused. "You don't remember?"_

_Naruto and Sasuke stared at each other for a while._

"_Eh, should I?" Naruto asked, grinning awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. Had he forgotten something important to Sasuke?_

"_You don't," Sasuke stated, turning a bit away from Naruto. Instead he leant against the tree._

"_Maybe you should help me remember?" Naruto asked, moving in front of Sasuke._

"_No, never mind." Sasuke turned away once more._

"_I'm sorry?" Naruto said, moving in view again._

_Sasuke pushed himself away from the tree and began walking again. Naruto quickly followed._

"_Wait, why don't you tell me?" Naruto caught up to Sasuke and fell in step beside him._

"_No, it's not important, just forget it." Sasuke walked on with a face that showed nothing._

_Naruto started to get both frustrated by Sasuke ignoring him and to get more and more curious as to what he should have remembered._

"_Does it have to do with a mission?" he guessed. Lately he had accompanied Sasuke on a lot of D-rank missions (Sasuke couldn't do any higher missions yet because of his punishment)._

"_Just drop it."_

_Naruto didn't. "It was during a mission?"_

"_Hn." Sasuke stopped walking. _

_Naruto stopped beside him, standing at the side of a busy road. "When we were alone?" Naruto continued. Sakura and Naruto both liked to go along with Sasuke on his missions, just to be together as a team again. _

_Sasuke looked left and right before he took a few steps forward as he had the opportunity to cross. Then he stopped again for people to pass him._

"_It was after Sakura had left." Naruto wasn't really asking anymore since he knew he wouldn't get an answer, and at the same time something seemed to dawn on him. Unfortunately it was something he couldn't quite put his finger on. It was like trying to remember a dream._

_Sasuke took another couple of steps, looking around where all these people came from._

"_We walked back home together." Naruto narrowed his eyes. "But we stopped before taking separate roads."_

_A few more steps, they were halfway now._

"_Or did we go to Ichiraku?" Naruto grinned at the thought._

_Sasuke saw that there was a market going on, and someone was shouting something, but he turned his head back to the road and shuffled further in the streams of people._

"_No, we did not." Naruto said, almost run over by an old lady, earning him a slap on his shoulder from her (strangely heavy) purse. "Ouch," he said, rubbing his arm while following the raven. "Was it that time we were waiting under that tree?"_

_Sasuke stopped. Some people gave him some glares, but no one hit him in the shoulder like they did with Naruto while he tried to stay standing in the moving crowd._

"_You remember?" Sasuke asked. On the background a deep voice could be heard screaming 'half prize!'._

"_I…" Naruto decided to do something he did not do very often. He decided to think first before speaking. Should he tell the truth, that he still didn't remember? All he remembered was them standing under a tree. Maybe he should say he did remember, just to please Sasuke. Maybe Sasuke would talk again, and Naruto would be able to find out what it was Sasuke wanted him to remember later. _

"_I d-"_

"_You don't." Sasuke's eyes narrowed. Then he took Naruto's arm and pulled him out of the crowd. Together, standing flat against a building, Sasuke looked around to Naruto. "But you tried."_

_Naruto saw the dark eyes and knew it was okay. He didn't see a particular emotion on his face, or a small movement of his mouth or eyebrows, but he could see it in those black eyes._

"_I did," Naruto grinned sheepishly._

"_Let's go then." Sasuke moved his head, indicating for them to move away from the busy street. "I would like to take you somewhere else."_

-oxo-

As Sasuke stood there, standing still just like before, Shino lifted his arm toward him. A swarm of bugs, a black mass, flew from his sleeve and got bigger and bigger. The thick, and dark, veil of insects moved as one toward Sasuke. The raven knew not to bother setting a genjutsu upon Shino. His bugs wouldn't be affected.

Instead he formed some hand signs and shouted, "Katon: Gouryuuka no jutsu!" and a giant dragon's head formed in the fire, flying at them. The first layer of bugs were all burned, the second layer however survived and still flew in the direction of Sasuke, but as the smoke and the fire cleared Sasuke was gone.

A katana swing later Sasuke had cut Shino in half. Bugs began to fly away, dispersing in all directions when Sasuke put electricity through his katana before he disappeared too. Nothing could be seen, but Naruto heard plenty of battle going around in the small woods inside the stadium. It wasn't a big forest, but it certainly wasn't small either. It took about a quarter of the arena.

Lavender chakra moved over the tops of the trees, but like an enormous beast hiding in the shadows, moved away again before anyone could make out what it had been. The sound of bugs swarming, the clash of weaponry, some shouting. Naruto twitched his ears to all sides, with his eyes following the invisible shapes move through the forest. His tail twitched and he frowned for a second as he had heard something no one else had, but then his ears perked up again.

Sakura watched Naruto from the side, knowing he knew more than anyone else about the battle, beside the Hyuuga who could actually see everything if they wanted to.

The next thing they all heard was a slash. It was near the border of the woods. A shadow came stumbling into the clearing, and just as the light shone upon him, he toppled over. Shino lay on the ground, and on his back they saw a slash. Blood was dripping slowly from the open wound. When Shino tried to stand up he fell down again. He was obviously out of chakra.

Sasuke appeared into the light, and walked right past Shino. Tsunade made Sasuke the winner, and immediately Ino ran over to Shino. However, he was already standing up by himself.

"You had to slash him?" Kiba asked when Sasuke neared them.

Naruto looked up to Sasuke. "It was an accident, am I right?" he asked the raven silently, so that only he could hear.

"Hn."

"He's back to his arrogant old self, ne teme?" Naruto said, leaning over to Sasuke with his hands on his back, tail swishing behind him and a grin on his face.

"Dobe." Sasuke walked pass Naruto.

"He is!" Naruto smiled and put an arm around Sasuke's waist, not really able to reach over his shoulders. Sasuke suddenly halted at the touch and turned to Naruto.

Kiba raised an eyebrow. He didn't think he would ever understand their relationship.

Tsunade was standing again, and pointed at the white board. "Next. Kakashi and Gai."

Kakashi gave a deep sigh. "Uh~"

"Let our rivalry be decided with this battle, we stand at 69-69," Gai said, placing his hand on Kakashi's shoulder.

At first Kakashi didn't seem very interested in the battle as he walked over to the middle of the field. But soon he uncovered his Sharingan, and they went all out. Gai with his taijutsu and fighting style ninjutsu, Kakashi with his 1000 copied jutsus.

It was actually a very entertaining battle. Lee screaming for Gai to do his best and Anko for Kakashi. She sat on the tribune with their little boy on her lap, who bounced with every sentence his mother yelled.

"Come on, Kakashi, kick his butt! Beat that youth right out of him! Kick that old guy's ass!" she screamed over all other voices.

"We are of the same age." Kakashi told her, but Anko went on as if she had never heard a thing.

In the end, both men tired and their chakras drained, they each decided on their final move. Gai jumped up in the air with amazing strength for someone so exhausted. "Konoha…" he yelled, turning around in the air with his leg aimed at Kakashi.

Kakashi jumped almost horizontally, avoiding the leg by jumping over it, and moved his foot forward; first straightening his leg before waving it forward in a kick of his own.

"Senpuu!"

Gai's leg managed to kick Kakashi's shoulder while Kakashi kicked Gai in the side. They both fell to the ground, panting. Kakashi fell down onto his knees, and Gai seemed to be kneeling. For a moment neither tried to stand up and just stayed still on the grassy ground.

Then Gai tried to stand up, pushing his body up on his knee. It looked like he was about to stand up, pulling his other leg under him, but at the last moment he slumped forward with a deep sigh. Kakashi was just able to stay sitting on his knees until the "Kakashi is winner" echoed through the stadium, and fell down on his hands, breathing heavily.

As the sensei's cleared from the field, it now gave way for Naruto and Hinata's fight. Hinata immediately went all out. She pushed him back and gave him no chance to defend himself other than avoiding her chakra punches. He didn't even had time to take out a kunai. Naruto stumbled back, not even watching where he was going as Hinata's rapid blows nearly caught up with him.

And then Naruto tripped…

He fell back onto the ground and for a second he saw Hinata looming closer, her purple shape hovering over him while her feet stood to either side of him, making Naruto unable to roll to the side. A fist was pulled back, the purple chakra around her hand glowing more fiercely than before, becoming a bigger shape and more clearly formed into a lion's head before her fist came hurrying down toward Naruto.

Her fist neared Naruto's stomach and the next thing everyone saw was HInata's fist hitting the ground. She looked up surprised, and turned around to see Naruto standing behind her, a Rasengan in hand. Her hair was still flying around her face when the orange chakra of the Rasengan neared her. Right before the Rasengan would have hit Hinata, Naruto actually hesitated for a slight second, which he shouldn't have done.

Hinata pushed off and spun around, her chakra deflecting his jutsu. Naruto waved his hand as it had hit Hinata's defensive wall and shook it due to the pain. Once Hinata came to a halt, facing Naruto, she immediately charged with both hands. Again her fists glowed with her chakra and this time she managed to hit Naruto's shoulder.

Naruto stumbled back before he kicked Hinata in the side. An 'umphf' was heard and she fell into the arms of a Kage Bunshin standing behind her. The Bunshin wrapped his arms around her neck and held a kunai to her face.

When the wind lowered and all action came to a halt, it became clear Naruto had won as time seemed to slow down again back to normal.

Tsunade stood up and declared the battle over. Immediately the clone dispersed, and Naruto grabbed his sore shoulder. "Ah, that really hurt," he whined. Blood was on his sweater that had torn open, exposing his bloody shoulder.

Hinata took a step forward and moved her hand to Naruto's shoulders, but when she pulled away his hands the wounds had almost completely healed already. She smiled at him and he grinned back.

After that, the battle between Sakura and Neji followed. Sakura was doing very well, evading and deflecting Neji's punches while even throwing around some of her own punches. She cleverly used the Bunshin no jutsu and Henge no jutsu to her convenience, even a few times replacing herself with an object with the use of the Kawarimi no jutsu.

And then, finally, she hit Neji on the arm, disturbing his nerves in his left arm, rendering it unusable. Neji seemed to be losing, but by using his chakra and the Byakugan he willed his arm to move by sending extra chakra through his veins. Sakura's eyes widened in surprise as she came to a halt, moving back to evade Neji's left hand. His hand moved in front of her face, only hitting her hair. Sakura jumped back, but it was already too late. Sakura was standing too close to Neji, and thus he somehow managed to complete his Gentle Fist, 64 hands of Hakke on Sakura.

Sakura lay on the ground while Neji fell to his knees next to her, his dark hair framing his face. Sakura opened her green eyes and looked up to the Hyuuga. A finger twitched, a kunai swung, and the battle was over.

-oxo-

_They walked toward a small wooden bridge with a red railing and brown floor boards. On the other side of the bridge, after having crossed the water, Naruto stopped and turned around to wait for Sasuke, who was no longer at his side. However, Sasuke didn't catch up with him. Instead he had walked over to the red railing, and was looking out over the small river. _

_Naruto watched him for a moment before he traced his steps back and leant against the railing next to Sasuke, looking out over the clear water as well._

_They stood there, looking over the dark bluish green water while some pink sakura petals fell down from the tree next to the bridge, growing over the water. Every time a pink leave fell onto the surface, the water wrinkled. Sasuke watched the rings around the leaves grow wider and wider, until they collided with the rings of another leave. The pink blossom slowly whirled down around them, even landing on their shoulders and on the railing. Naruto tried to count the leaves, but he soon lost count._

"_Damn."_

_Sasuke gave him a sideways glance, but didn't say anything. He turned his dark eyes over the beautiful scenery… oh, and of course the water and the tree too._

_Naruto did not seem to notice how the leaves landed softly on top of his blond hair; the soft pink accentuated the yellow. The sakura almost seemed to brush over his hair while the spikes moved a little aside under the weight of the pink petals._

_Sasuke moved his hand toward Naruto's hair and brushed the petals away, which made Naruto look around at him, his head tilting. Then he grinned._

"_You know what I was reminded of just now?" Naruto asked. He jumped up the railing and moved his legs over it, swinging them back and forth._

_Sasuke thought he probably didn't wanted to know, but Naruto just talked on without waiting for an answer._

"_That time that Shino, Ino, Neji and I were on a mission somewhere in the Fire country. I don't remember the name of the village, but it doesn't really matter anyway, it sure was a nice village. Everyone was so kind and-"_

_Sasuke wasn't sure if he wanted to listen or not, but couldn't help but keep one ear on the story even though he wasn't actually interested. Sasuke had only eye for the beauty that was called Naruto. The way his mouth moved when he talked, his teeth showing when he grinned or smiled. He also couldn't help but notice how Naruto's eyes sparkled, and how much his lips screamed to be touched._

_Suddenly Sasuke was pulled out of his thoughts when Naruto stopped talking. He followed Naruto's look to their right before looking back over the water._

"_Nice girl you have there," a brown haired man came walking up to the two. He leant sideways against the railing next to Sasuke, grinning. "Your skirt is nice; though I'm sure the split of your dress should be to the side." The man sniggered as he thought he was funny._

_Sasuke blinked, and slowly turned his head to the man. Naruto had to admit that he was glad he could not see the look on Sasuke's face when the raven turned to look at the man next to him._

_The face of the man went through a lot of different emotions in such a short time that the only ones that Naruto could recognise in the short time were surprise, shock, fear, horror and something that might have been absolute terror._

_Before Naruto had puzzled out what emotions he had just witnessed, the man was already gone._

"_Wow, Sasuke… I think… he actually wet his pants," Naruto said slowly, sounding impressed, "really." He turned to look down at Sasuke, who was still leaning against the railing, but was now facing the blond. Naruto saw the smirk on the raven's face._

_Naruto moved back and forth on the railing. "I'm so glad that you came back, I really missed this," Naruto told Sasuke with a smile, his eyes closed._

"_Me scaring people away?" Sasuke asked, still smirking._

"_That too, certainly," Naruto nodded._

_Sasuke tilted his head a bit up. "What were you talking about then?" he asked._

"_That I really lo-" Naruto stopped for a moment, seeing Sasuke's eyebrow rise, "-ike to… you know, just hang out with you." Naruto turned to look the other way._

"_Hang out?" Sasuke asked softly. His smirk disappeared, an eyebrow rose, and he looked up curiously to Naruto._

"_Ooh, you see that?" Naruto changed the topic, pointing over the water._

"_Hn." Sasuke looked up at Naruto's sitting form. "You like to hang out with me?" he asked again._

_He saw the sides of Naruto's ears turn red before the blond stood up. He twirled around on the red railing, his arms spread. "It's a wonderful view from here, isn't it?"_

_Sasuke grinned, angling his head a little while looking up at Naruto. "It sure is."_

-oxo-

"Neji wins the fight." Tsunade stood up and looked down at Sakura, who lay panting on the ground, face down with a broken kunai in her hand. Neji sat down on his behind and sighed deeply, closing his eyes while his Byakugan disappeared.

"Wow, that was so very close," Naruto told Sasuke.

Naruto moved over onto the field and helped Sakura to the side, where she and Neji received some medication to fuel their chakra and heal their wounds. "That was awesome Sakura-chan," Naruto said. "I thought you had him."

Sakura punched him in the shoulder.

Tsunade turned to the group of ninja standing to the side and grinned. "Start of the third round: Sasuke versus Kakashi."

Naruto rubbed his sore arm and looked down at Sakura. "I've been waiting for this one."

Sakura smiled. "Oh yeah, this will be good."

"Epic," Naruto grinned.

And so it was.

Sharingan vs. Sharingan.

Chidori vs. Raikiri.

Jutsu vs. genjutsu.

Amaterasu vs. Mangekyou Sharingan.

They pulled out everything, and it even came so far that Sasuke used Susano'o in his second form.

A giant man formed out of violet chakra hovered over the stadium while a bow and arrow was aimed at a panting Kakashi.

Sasuke had to shoot three arrows, the first was evaded, the second one hit Kakashi's arm, and the last one disappeared into another dimension by Kakashi's Mangekyou Sharingan.

The giant leg-less Susano'o was loading a new arrow when one of Kakashi's dogs, the biggest one of all, jumped up from the ground behind Sasuke. Sasuke started to spin around, but the dog bit him in the shoulder, causing the Susano'o to disappear. But the battle hadn't been won yet.

Sasuke summoned a big snake which attacked Kakashi. The copy-ninja avoided the snake, but not the blow from Sasuke's foot. The dog had disappeared, and the snake went back home as well. Sasuke hit Kakashi once more in the stomach, and the silver haired man fell backward onto the sand. Sasuke was standing over him, his katana on his sensei's throat; a big grin on his face. "You're getting old Kakashi."

Kakashi sighed before he moved his hitai-ate back over his left eye. "Ah, so it seems."

Sasuke helped a very tired Kakashi up, and half-carried him to the side while his sensei leaned on his shoulder. "I hope I managed to make you sweat at least a little," Kakashi said. Sasuke smirked.

"That brat," Anko said. She hadn't said a thing since the beginning of the fight, too caught up in it. She swore, realised the baby boy on her lap, and covered his ears a little too late. "Luckily Kakashi wasn't here to see that."

Kakashi and Sasuke had not even returned to the waiting area when Neji stood up and walked onto the field, shortly followed by Naruto.

"Next fight is Naruto against Neji," Tsunade told the crowd.

"Like last time," Naruto grinned.

"Not at all," Neji said stoically and took his stance.

Naruto grinned. "Maybe not." He moved one leg back as if preparing himself to take a sprint, and waited for the sign to start the battle.

Tsunade gave the signal, and immediately Neji spun around while Naruto disappeared before suddenly be seen jumping away, up in the sky. Neji stopped spinning once he had deflected Naruto's attack, having guessed correctly that Naruto had planned to attack immediately.

As he floated in the air, his tail moving between his outstretched legs, hair blown to the front while he moved backward, Naruto shook his hand; he had touched the chakra barrier from Neji's defence. "Again," he muttered to himself.

Naruto landed to the side of the giant spike of earth that his fight with Kiba had left behind, and immediately he pulled out two kunai, one in each hand. He formed around twenty Bunshin and they all attacked Neji.

Neji deflected each and every one of their weapons, avoided Rasengans and evaded some more kunai. When he finished his last spin he suddenly stumbled back when Naruto appeared right in front of his nose out of nowhere.

"Boo." Naruto grinned, showing his long canines while his tail happily swirled behind him.

Neji quickly recovered, but suddenly froze in his tracks. He shivered as a cold and eerie feeling filled him up. It was everywhere, wrapping up around his body like a heavy cloak. He felt horrible, and then suddenly an evil and vile voice sounded inside his head, echoing through his body like a deep bass or drum.

"Fear me."

-oxo-

_Hopping on one leg while leaning on Sasuke's shoulder, Naruto kept himself from falling over._

"_Dobe," Sasuke muttered._

_Naruto turned his head sharply to Sasuke. "It was an accident!" he barked into Sasuke's ear which was in a very close range._

"_Hn, just let's go to my house, it's closer than yours," Sasuke suggested, his ear ringing._

_Naruto huffed and turned his head back to the road. "Fine. At least it's better than the hospital. I was afraid you wanted to take me there."_

_Sasuke frowned. "Why would I do that? Like that would do any good."_

_Naruto glanced over to Sasuke. "Hmm, I see," he grinned. Sasuke knew most of Naruto's injuries were healed after a good night sleep._

"_Stop grinning and hop along," Sasuke grunted, feeling Naruto put more and more weight onto his shoulder, "you're putting too much weight on me."_

_Naruto quickly turned his head to Sasuke. "I'm not…. I'm not that heavy…"_

_Sasuke glanced to Naruto, but just kept dragged him along without answering._

_Naruto, taking the glance as an answer, felt his mouth fall open. When Sasuke turned his head to the blond to tell that they were there, Naruto quickly closed it and grinned eerily. Sasuke frowned at it, but didn't respond._

_Finally they entered Sasuke's apartment, and took off their shoes before Sasuke helped Naruto over to his couch. "Don't move." After saying that Sasuke walked away toward the kitchen._

"_Don't… move?" Naruto asked nervously. "Sure." He nodded, and realised that was considered moving too. He closed his eyes, sitting very still._

_When Sasuke came back with some white bandage in his hand, he immediately noticed Naruto sitting so still that he was sure birds would have liked to sit on his shoulders (good thing the windows were closed). All he could do was stand there and watch Naruto not even move a hair._

_After twelve minutes Sasuke thought he had seen enough. "I know you're not dead."_

_Naruto peeked at him before he closed his eye again._

_Sasuke sat down on the couch next to Naruto, but still Naruto wasn't moving. "I know you're not sleeping." Still nothing. "You can move."_

_Immediately Naruto's eyes opened and he sighed, letting his shoulders fall. "Finally." Then he looked down at Sasuke's hands, and saw him holding the bandage. "What's that for?" he pointed at the bandage._

_Sasuke just stared back before suddenly reaching for Naruto's foot, holding it up._

"_Whoa! Careful!" Naruto exclaimed in surprise._

"_Hold still." Sasuke tightly held Naruto's leg._

"_Again?" Naruto asked, though he had a foxy smirk on his face._

_Sasuke gave Naruto a look._

"_Sorry," Naruto apologized. _

_Sasuke started to wrap the bandage around Naruto's ankle. Naruto stopped struggling and instead watched Sasuke work. His face was serious as he put the bandage with precision around Naruto's foot. It was as if he thought every wrap he made around Naruto's leg over. Perhaps he had exactly memorized Sakura's movements with his Sharingan…?_

_Naruto pouted, wondering why Sasuke was taking care of him like this, while they both knew his foot would be fine tomorrow. "Hey, teme," Sasuke didn't even glance over, "Sasuke, why are you doing this?"_

"_Because you were stupid and hurt yourself." He stopped wrapping and looked up to Naruto. "What kind of ninja spins around on a railing and falls off?"_

_Naruto narrowed his eyes. "I… I tripped. Teme." He pouted, then bit his lip before muttering, "It was your fault."_

_Sasuke could only give him the look. "How so?" he asked._

"_You distracted me."_

_Sasuke looked up for a moment while he continued bandaging Naruto's foot. "In what way did I distract you?" he asked smiling._

"_You…" Naruto muttered, feeling blushes come up on his cheeks. He didn't like Sasuke's smile. "You were…"_

"_I see," Sasuke said, and turned back to the foot, almost done._

"_It wasn't like that!" Naruto was bright red, but he crossed his arms and looked away._

"_Hn." Sasuke finished the bandage and turned to Naruto. He looked the blond up and down before standing up and walking away, leaving a slightly confused Naruto behind._

_When Sasuke was gone, Naruto looked around the room before his eyes landed on his foot. He lifted it up to see Sasuke's handiwork before he lowered it again. Then he sighed and looked at himself and his clothes. He pulled his hands over his orange vest. Then he stared at his pants. "I knew I shouldn't wear black." He pouted before he started staring at a lonely cactus in Sasuke's window sill, pouting over not wearing his orange pants._

_He was still staring at the cactus when Sasuke came back with a bowl of soup. He placed it on the coffee table in front of them before he sat down._

"_It stings," Naruto said, still frowning._

_Sasuke looked from Naruto to what he was staring at. He saw the cactus and let it slide. "Your food," he said, pointing to the bowl._

_Slowly Naruto moved his eyes from the cactus to the sound he had just heard, and noticed the bowl on the table. He stared at it for a while before he suddenly decided to ask. "You only brought soup for yourself?" _

"_It's for you… but I'm willing to share it with you," Sasuke smirked._

"_Share? You?" Naruto asked._

_Sasuke turned his eyes to Naruto. "Hn." _

_Naruto started laughing. "Haha, Sasuke, you-"_

"_Shut up, and just eat; you need it."_

_Naruto's face fell. "Just a while ago you said I was heavy." _

_Sasuke frowned. "Hn, you heavy? I never said that."_

"_You did, you said…" Naruto had to dig in his memory for the right words._

_Sasuke remembered first. "That 'you're putting too much weight on me', is what I said."_

_Naruto was silent, thinking this over, remembering. "Oh, right." He grinned goofily._

_Sasuke took the bowl from the table and started eating._

"_Hé, I thought that was mine!"_

"_You took too long." Sasuke started eating the soup._

"_But I need it…" Looking up sadly, pouting, he waited for Sasuke to see this look on his face. However, as usual, Sasuke didn't._

_So Naruto's next action was to pick the spoon out of Sasuke's hand, and eat the soup while Sasuke held up the bowl in his hands. "Haha."Naruto took a couple of spoons before Sasuke handed the bowl to Naruto, who greedily began eating the soup._

_A little later Naruto put the empty bowl down, rubbing his filled stomach. "That was sooo good." A big smile was on his face as he lay back, and he closed his eyes._

_Sasuke stood up to bring the bowl away. "Don't fall asleep, while I get something else to eat."_

"_Hmm," was the only, kind of short, answer he got. A bit too short, and soon, when Sasuke walked back into the living room, he found out why. It was just as he had expected._

_First he just sat down in the chair next to Naruto, reading some mail or something. Then he decided to wake Naruto up, then decided not to. Next he thought he would just go to the bathroom, thinking that maybe when he would come back after having taken a shower, Naruto would either be already awake or wake up because of him returning. Of course that didn't work either. _

_Standing in front of Naruto, he looked down at the blond, seeing Naruto's mouth hang open ever so slightly, his soft breathing making his chest rise and fall discretely, while his hand rested on his stomach. Sasuke must have stood there for a while, because when he turned to the window it was already dark outside._

"_Naruto… you should go home," he said softly._

_Nothing._

"_Naruto. It's already dark; go sleep in your own bed."_

_Nothing._

"_Dobe."_

_A movement. Naruto shifted and started snoring softly._

"_Great."_

_He walked away, to shortly thereafter return with a glass of water._

_Standing in front of Naruto, with the glass in his hands, Sasuke looked down upon the sleeping blond. It took him ten minutes, but finally he decided not to do it. Instead he sat down next to Naruto, and started prodding him._

"_Naruto."_

"_Hmm, I'm sleeping," was the muttered answer._

"_Not anymore."_

"_I am."_

"_Then why are you talking to me?"_

"_I can sleep-talk."_

"_You can… Of course." Sasuke prodded him again, harder. "You know we have a mission tomorrow… early in the morning." _

_Naruto opened his eyes and sat up straight. "Mission?" He turned to Sasuke. "I should go home!" He stood up, leaning on his weak ankle, yelped, and fell down, face down on the floor. "Ouch," he muttered into the carpeting._

"_If you really want to…" Sasuke leant forward to see Naruto better, "you can sleep on my floor." Grinning, he stood up, and saw Naruto's foul look._

_The blond held out a hand to the raven. "Help me up?"_

_Sasuke smiled. "I tried to wake you up, but you were too fast asleep. So now you can continue your sleep here on the floor. Why should I help you up?" Sasuke stepped over Naruto and went for his bedroom._

"_Wait!" Naruto held out a hand to Sasuke, just in time to grasp his pants. "I would very much like to sleep on your couch instead of the floor."_

_Sasuke turned around to look down upon Naruto. "Suit yourself."_

_He wanted to walk away again, but Naruto held him tightly. When Sasuke looked down again he saw Naruto grinning. The blond struggled to stand up, but finally Sasuke helped him up and back onto the couch. "I'll get you some blankets."_

_Naruto smiled and started to open his orange and black jacket._

_When Sasuke came back with a few dark coloured blankets he found Naruto sitting and waiting for him in just his boxers and a t-shirt. He was hunching a bit with his hands resting around his body._

_Sasuke looked down upon the blond boy. Immediately Naruto snatched the blankets away from Sasuke. "Finally; took you long enough. No wonder you are always so cold. You should turn up the heat when you are at home."_

_Almost pulling the blankets back, but being able to restrain himself, Sasuke instead answered. "I have, but we are going to sleep, so I turned it down."_

_He watched Naruto cover himself up, roll up into the blankets for a while until he was apparently satisfied, and lay still. "Thanks for letting me sleep on the couch."_

_The tone of voice indicated what Sasuke thought of doing too. "Hn," he said before leaving the room and turning the lights of; going to bed for a good sleep._

-oxo-

Neji still shivered every now and then, making Naruto feel sorry for what he had done to the man. "Did I take it too far?" he asked Sasuke as they walked back onto the field.

"He's an adult man, he'll survive."

Naruto glanced up to Sasuke before turning his eyes back on the changed arena, where the scars of all of their many battles were left behind.

"Finally our last battle, Sasuke against Naruto," Tsunade spoke loudly.

Naruto looked up at the applause they got and grinned sheepishly. He turned back to Sasuke, who stood there as if he couldn't hear the cheering.

"Finally, this is it." Naruto said. Sasuke stared back at him. "Let's start where we left off."

"Sure."

They both closed their eyes.

"Start," Tsunade yelled.

When they opened their eyes it wasn't blue meeting black. Sasuke's red eyes, decorated with his Mangekyou Sharingan spun around while Naruto's yellow eyes with horizontal pupils stared back at him, red marks around his eyes from sage-mode.

Immediately Sasuke called forth Susano'o in the last form, a hooded man, reaching far up into the sky as he stood on two legs. Naruto disappeared from view. Not much later four Naruto clones came into view again, all with a Rasenshuriken in a hand which they threw toward Sasuke.

Susano'o deflected two of them with his shield-like bow. For one Rasenshuriken he had to step aside, and the last one cut his arrow in half.

The four clones ran to Sasuke and began making Oodama Rasengans to blast against the Susano'o. However, Susano'o shot two clones down and then grabbed the last two in two hands coming from his left arm.

Then Naruto, the real one, jumped in front of Sasuke, his orange chakra flaring around him like he was on fire. The necklace of the Sage of the Six Paths around his neck, a swirl with a 'tail' that seemed to form a tomoe on his stomach and a swirl on each shoulder could be made out before the chakra around him spread. It expanded, forming nine tails a body, four legs, and a head. Two hands were about to punch Sasuke's Susano'o.

Susano'o let the clones go as they dispersed, and grabbed the chakra hands in his own, just in time. Susano'o slipped back by the force of the punch. The ground groaned under his feet as the stadium floor changed. All of a sudden the area seemed way too small as the two giant shapes, one of a man and another of a nine tailed fox, casting a shadow over the audience.

The earth seemed to shake when the chakra fox landed. They stood there, pushing and pulling each other, for quite some time. Finally they both let one hand go and were about to punch each other. They both flew back from the force.

Screams sounded as the two shapes toppled backward, crushing trees and rock. It was a good thing the tribunal area was to the other sides.

The fight of the giants continued for quite a while. That was, until they had used up too much chakra to keep up these huge forms for much longer. They punched each other at the same time, knocking each other out.

Naruto almost seemed to fly out of the chakra fox as it went up in the air. He hit the ground hard and made some backwards rolls before he stood up as soon as his feet found the ground; swaying a bit when he finally came to a stop.

Sasuke had been thrown sideways. Susano'o lost most of his shape and became sort of a blur for a moment until Sasuke hit the ground as well. He made a side roll that was followed by a forward roll, and stood up as well when he stuck his foot out and came to a halt. His Susano'o was now a mere skeleton of only half a man.

Both Sasuke and Naruto were panting as they faced each other. The audience was quiet, keeping their breaths, waiting for what else was to come.

As Naruto stood up, and made three more clones, he noticed Sasuke get some things from his pouch, but instead of throwing them or using them as weapons, he began making something. Naruto stared as he saw Sasuke bind a string around a kunai and something else.

Confused Naruto took out a kunai himself, just in case Sasuke might want to throw that… thing, whatever it was supposed to be. Maybe it had an exploding tag.

His clones had surrounded Sasuke by now and charged forward, a Rasengan in hand. Sasuke held up his self-made device and moved it to his mouth before he blew on it.

Naruto flinched, and as Sasuke blew it again, he heard a high pinched sound. His clones stopped in place, let the Rasengan dissolve, and clasped their hands over their fox ears. Naruto did as well before the clones disappeared as he fell to his knees.

The sound that came from that thing in Sasuke's hands was so high that it actually hurt Naruto's ears. He tried to stand up again, but fell to his knees once more.

Sasuke slowly began to walk forward, still blowing on his hand-made whistle. Naruto felt dizzy and nausea arise. All he did was shift his knee to put his foot on the ground, and he already began to sway. This was enough to make him double over and throw up his breakfast. And still, all the time Sasuke was coming closer, just staring at Naruto, no emotion on his face.

Naruto tried to stand up somehow, but fell over and tried to crawl away instead. The earth was moving like there was an enormous earthquake. There was no up and down, everything was the same. It was all spinning around him, and he couldn't feel from where gravity came anymore. He could only think of destroying that thing, but he had no idea how to do so. He couldn't aim a kunai or shuriken right now. He couldn't even stand up, let alone find his weapon's pouch.

Sasuke was two metres away from Naruto. Susano'o's hand moved forward to the blond, its bone fingers spreading, ready to grab a hold of him.

He had to do something now, or it would be too late. Somehow Naruto managed to turn over and sit up, though he had absolutely no idea how he had done that. He brought his hands together and crossed his fingers. _Concentrate, concentrate!_ He told himself, but it was so hard to do as everything spun around him.

The hand still inched closer to him and he shut his eyes, waiting for something to happen.

-oxo-

_Naruto sat bold upright, though he had absolutely no idea why. His stomach bothered him a little, so he rubbed it. He was too sleepy to feel the presence of the Kyuubi so close to the surface._

_He yawned and decided to get some water. It was only half way to the kitchen that he realised his house looked different. And since when did he have a couch? He looked around sleepily and finally stared at the lay-out of the kitchen. Now he was certain; this wasn't his house. He put his weight on his right leg and felt a dull pain. As he looked down at the bandage his memories of the previous day returned. "Oh, right."_

_He took a glass of water, drank it and walked back into the living room, but he stopped before he reached the couch. Something pulled him to Sasuke's bedroom. He opened the door ever so slightly and peered inside._

_It took a while for his eyes to see more clearly in the dark, but then finally he saw the raven, his back turned to him. Naruto bit his lip and looked around. Finally he shook his head and stepped away from the door, back to the living room. After two steps he stopped again, and slowly turned around, staring at the open door._

_He shouldn't._

_He turned around again, but made a full spin and finally stepped to Sasuke's bedroom. He opened the door far enough so that he could squeeze through the opening. He silently crept closer and closer until he stood next to the bed._

_He glanced around the room quickly before his eyes were drawn back at the sleeping form of the Uchiha. Naruto looked down at him, stared at the back of his head. What was he supposed to do now? He hadn't thought this through._

_For a couple of minutes he merely stood there, watching, listening to Sasuke's soft breathing. When a thought occurred to him, he bit his lip and a blush crept over his face. _

_He couldn't._

_He closed his eyes, but once the thought had found roots, it was like a stubborn weed; unable to get rid of. The thought kept growing and growing, while Naruto grew redder and redder. This was too embarrassing, he finally decided._

_He turned around, ready to go back to the couch -and he had every intention of doing so- when Sasuke mumbled softly. Naruto froze in place while Sasuke slept on._

_Naruto again bit his lip, and before he could take a single step away, his body had lowered onto the bed. This time he froze with one eye on Sasuke as the mattress shifted under his weight. When he sat, he waited. He waited for Sasuke to wake up. But he didn't._

_When the raven just slept on, Naruto suddenly sprouted some more confidence and courage, as if he had turned it into one of his pranks, and lay down on his back on top of the blankets. He turned his head to the side, only to see Sasuke's back._

_Slowly he lifted the blanket and crawled under it. Every time he thought he heard Sasuke move, he stopped, but eventually he was completely under the covers, and Sasuke was still resting with his back to him._

_When he realised he was in one bed together with Sasuke he started to blush enormously. His face felt warm, like a heater radiating his emotions off. He wiggled and when he looked to the side, to Sasuke, he stiffened._

"_Did you miss me?" Sasuke asked._

_Naruto jolted and fell out of the bed._

_Sasuke sat up and looked down at the blond in surprise._

_A minute later Naruto was back in bed and they lay facing each other, Naruto still blushing madly. "Is your foot better?" Sasuke asked, maybe trying to break the ice._

_Naruto nodded. _

_For a long time neither spoke, and eventually Naruto eased up and closed his eyes, just like Sasuke had done. He rubbed his cheek over the pillow, Sasuke's pillow. He was lying in Sasuke's bed, Sasuke's covers, his blanket, his mattress. A place where Sasuke had been sleeping for a while now. Every night he was here, Sasuke would step into this bed, lie maybe on this very spot._

_Naruto buried his warm face in the blanket, only to smell Sasuke's scent and look up again. "Ne, Sasuke?" he finally managed to ask._

_Sasuke's eyes fluttered open. "Hm?" he asked sleepily._

"_What is your dream?"_

"_My dream?" Sasuke carefully repeated._

"_Yes, your life dream." Naruto kept fiddling with the corner of the pillow. "Like I want to be Hokage and surpass all previous ones," Naruto grinned happily._

_Sasuke was silent and thought this over. "I don't have a dream like that," he finally decided._

_Naruto leant a bit closer. "Of course you have. Why else would you have come back to Konoha?"_

-oxo-

Suddenly the hand of Susano'o faltered, and slowly his form dissolved into a mere hand and a small ribcage. Sasuke stopped his movements, and even stopped blowing on the whistle when blood came from his left eye.

Naruto immediately took this opportunity, made a clone that jumped to Sasuke, and more or less stumbled upon the raven. He himself somehow was able to jump into the small woods. As he landed there he slumped against the ground and breathed heavily, trying to steady the world around him.

Sasuke threw the clone off, and in the process demolished the whistle because the clone pulled on it before disappearing into a cloud of smoke. The raven stood panting, holding one hand over his eye while he looked around, scanning the area for Naruto.

Minutes past as nothing happened, except for Sasuke looking around and panting. All of a sudden Sasuke turned to his right as Naruto had briefly appeared there, but just as soon had vanished.

Sasuke wasn't fast enough to turn around when he noticed Naruto jumping to him from behind. Sasuke turned his head just enough to be able to see Naruto fly horizontally through the ribs of Susano'o. As Naruto seized him, Susano'o waned away and immediately electricity came from all over Sasuke's body.

However, the blond didn't let go, and they both rolled over the ground a couple of times due to the force of Naruto's jump. Eventually Sasuke lay on his back, sweating and panting, the electricity fading away, while Naruto sat on top of him holding a kunai to his throat, panting as well as some leftover electricity sparked between them. Blood trickled from the corner of Naruto's mouth. Both he and Sasuke were worn out, covered in scratches and bruises, some blood as well.

Sasuke struggled a bit, but Naruto held him firmly in place, and pushed the kunai a bit harder against his throat. Sasuke stopped and blinked, and his eyes turned back to black once more.

They sat there for maybe a minute before Sasuke grinned, and Naruto smiled back. Then Naruto let the kunai drop and let himself fall on top of Sasuke, his eyes still open and his tail swishing.

"Don't ever do that thing with the whistle again, you hear?" he warned Sasuke.

"I won't, I promise." Sasuke smiled back.

"I'm still dizzy," Naruto said, closing his eyes.

"Sorry." Sasuke placed his hands on Naruto's sides and pushed him up into a sitting position while he sat up too.

Naruto sat there, leaning against Sasuke's chest for as long as he could before he fellt Sasuke move under him. In one smooth movement he stood up, taking Sasuke's hands, and pulled him up as well.

"The winner is Naruto," Tsunade said as the pair came walking toward her, Naruto happily swaying his tail.

"Wow! That was really an awesome fight, Naruto-kun, Sasuke-san."

"Thanks, Lee," Naruto smiled back, in his still slight dizziness swinging against Sasuke, who almost fell over, being so exhausted.

"Whoops."

Tsunade came walking toward them, smiling at Naruto. "Congratulations Naruto," she said. "It's a good thing you won, or it would have been rather odd to give you the Hokage title over Sasuke."

Naruto stared back at her, letting the words sink in. "Eh?" he asked. He turned toward Sasuke who smiled happily at him. "What?" he asked again as he turned his head back to Tsunade.

"From the start of next month and onward, you will be the Rokudaime Hokage, Naruto," she told him, putting her hands on his shoulders.

Naruto's mouth fell open. "Y-you're kidding, right?"

Tsunade almost laughed, but didn't. "No, I'm very much telling you the truth." She gave him a hug. "You better live up to everything you promised," she whispered in his ear.

Naruto still couldn't comprehend what Tsunade was saying. _She wasn't kidding? He was going to be the next Hokage?_ Naruto just couldn't believe it. He stood rooted to the ground, unable to say anything, to move or to even think.

_You're going to be Hokage_, a voice inside his head told him.

Tsunade let him go, and others came to congratulate him. He shook their hands and had a small smile on his face, but he still couldn't believe it. That was until Sakura came to him and flew around his neck.

"Oh Naruto, I'm so glad for you to have finally reached your goal." She pulled back so she could look into his eyes as tears streamed down her face. "After having fulfilled your promise; you brought Sasuke back and now... Hokage." She leant forward and kissed him on the cheek. "I'm so happy for you."

Naruto turned his head to Sasuke, who stood there, still smiling at him. Naruto let go of Sakura and took a step toward the raven. "You knew?" he asked softly.

Sasuke nodded. "I did. But don't think I didn't give it my all," he said.

Naruto stepped even closer, but before he could touch Sasuke, a girl was around his midsection. "Congratulations, sensei!"

Naruto looked down at the brunette. "Thanks, Eri-chan."

Ryomaru and Kenji shook Naruto's hand before Eri and Ryomaru started doing a small victory dance, turning around and around while singing '_sensei is Hokage'_ over and over. It was very compelling and somehow alluring to join them. Some laughed or sang along with the two, or even clapped on the rhythm of their made-up chant.

Even Kenji got caught up in it as well. He separated the two dancing figures, who looked up surprised at his sudden actions, before joining them in their dance.

"Sensei is Hokage," they sang together.

He didn't know why, what caused him to let his feeling go lose, but all of a sudden Kenji stopped dancing, letting go of the hands, and to everyone's surprise he kissed Ryomaru full on the mouth.

Ryomaru turned instantly as red as a lobster while Kenji came to his senses and realised what he had done. Eri stared at them until they broke their kiss. Then she happily giggled a 'finally'.

"Those two have something to discuss." Naruto turned back to Sasuke and finally flew into his arms. Sasuke pulled him closely against his chest and kissed his forehead.

"I'm so happy right now," Naruto said.

"I know."

Naruto lay his head against Sasuke's chest and sniffed in his scent. He was finally Hokage; he had everything he wanted. His life was complete, his dreams fulfilled.

-oxo-

_Sasuke lowered his eyes. 'Why else would you have come back to Konoha?' Naruto's voice sounded in his head._

"_There must be something you would really like to happen," Naruto said. "Something you dream of?"_

_To Naruto's surprise he saw blushes form on Sasuke's cheeks. Naruto's blue eyes widened in surprise. "Oh?" he asked._

_Sasuke looked up into Naruto's eyes, pouting ever so slightly in embarrassment. "Don't laugh," he said._

_This behaviour and these words, of course, made Naruto all the more curious. "What is it?" he asked softly._

_Sasuke gathered his courage and spoke. "If you become Hokage, then I want to be your personal ANBU guard."_

_Naruto's eyes widened. Sasuke wanted to be his guard? His personal guard? _

"_WHEN I become Hokage," Naruto corrected Sasuke._

_Sasuke smirked. "Of course, when."_

_Naruto fiddled with the corner of the pillow while he felt Sasuke's eyes on him. Sasuke's dream was to become his personal ANBU guard. He wanted to protect him all day long? To hide in the shadows next to him? No way, he was lying, right? "You really would want to be my personal guard?" Naruto asked slowly._

_Sasuke smiled, which made Naruto's heart skip a beat when he saw the genuine smile. "Of course. I always want to be at your side."_

_Naruto blushed furiously before he pushed Sasuke hard. So hard that he fell out of bed. "Don't say such things while we're in one bed together."_

-oXo-


End file.
